Chrono Trigger: The Untold Story
by patattack
Summary: The story of Chrono Trigger except with an additional character. *Leene and Marle return, the heroes return to their own time, and Crono runs into trouble.* on hold until further notice.
1. The Beginning of a New Day

Disclaimer: I don't own Chrono Trigger, but I wish I did.

I'd like to start by thanking Gibson18 for writing his really good fic ''Chrono Trigger: The Sands of Time''. It's one of the things that inspired me to write my own. Which, by the way, will be a novelization of the game, except with an added character of my own. I actually just wondered what I'd be like if I were a part of the Chrono Trigger universe and voilà! Won't say anymore other than please enjoy!

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Chrono Trigger: The Untold Story

By: Patattack

**The Beginning of a Special Day**

It started out like any other normal summer day in the kingdom of Guardia. The sun shone brightly on the fresh morning dew, sparkled the sea's peaceful, unmoving surface and lit the plants, animals and faces of the people already up and about. At the heart of this wondrous land, stood Guardia Castle. It rose magesticly above the forest that surrounded it, it's stone structure standing taller than all the other buildings in the nearby towns and villages. From here, ruled King Guardia the 33rd. He lived only with his daughter, Princess Nadia, as the queen had passed away some time ago. Although, there was no lack of guards, servants, cooks and other such people to accompagny them.

East of the castle was the town of Truce. A goodly sized place with a fair number of people living in the town itself and on the outskirts. In the cerulean skys above, seagulls flew in large flocks because of Truce's proximity to the water. They passed over people making their way from their houses towards Leene Square. Decorations had been hung about quite lavishly in celebration for the thousand years that Guardia had stood as a nation. In the center of the square, was an old silvery gray bell. It looked almost fragile because of the crack that ran across it from the bottom to about halfway up. But, upon closer inspection, one could see that it was still quite solid despite it's old age.

It had been forged by a master smith at the end of the war that had happened 400 years ago. It was a bloody struggle that pit humans against a nation of creatures that were called Mystics. They mostly looked similar to different animals, some of them had a thougher skin than humans, a little like leather. They varied in sizes, from the smaller green skinned imps, to the larger, massive orcs. They had been known to engage in barbaric practices like eating their enemies, torturing them and ripping their bodies apart while not even waiting for the victim to be dead. Though most of those rumors were nothing but fanciful tales, made up by humans to justify their hate against them. Mystics now lived in the land of Medina, east of Guardia Kingdom. Though some minor tensions stilled remained between the two races, peace reigned ever since the end of the war.

The bell gave off a soft, yet persistant chime. It's sound reverberated across the town tricklying with people and into the outskirts. In one particular residence near the shore, lived three people. It was a modest house, had one room for each person living in it, another for storage and a common room for cooking and other such things. It was well built, with a small shed nearby for stocking firewood, a little henhouse holding a few chickens and a small flourishing garden dug in the ground next to it.

A light breeze flew from the shoreline, merging with the bell's music as it entered the house through one of the rooms' windows. The wind moved the curtains slightly, allowing a thin beam of sunlight to go into the otherwise dim room.

''Crono,'' a soft voice spoke.

''Crono,'' it repeated again.

''Crono. Wake up will you?''

The youth in question slowly began to blink his eyes open after the third call. As his sight began to come to him, he took notice of his mother leaning over him. She was a woman of small build, had blond hair that fell just below her shoulders in a single braid and big brown eyes. She wore a sturdy orange wool dress as well as an apron tied around her back. Her facial features did not betray the fact that she was in her early forties, for she had the look of one a few years younger.

''Ge manin ma.'' He spoke in a voice befuddled by sleep, his words barely comprehendible. She smiled to herself, apparently amused by his condition.

''Finnally you've managed to wake up. You were sleeping so hard a lighting bolt striking next to your bed probably wouldn't have bothered you.'' He yawned and stretched out his limbs in an effort to rid himself of his tiredness. While he did so, his mother walked to the window. It was covered by the curtains in order to dim the lights within the room. She grabbed a handful of each curtain and pulled them apart, letting the morning sun shine through and illuminate the room along with the people inside.

Crono placed a hand over his eyes to shield them from the light. ''Ahh mom! It's too bright! Can't you just close the drapes please?" he pleaded.

"And let you fall back too sleep? I don't think so. The fair has already started, if you stay in bed much longer you'll miss it all." To emphasize her point, she pulled the sheets off of him.

"Ok, ok. Just let me get dressed at least." She waited for him to get up and go to his closet before deciding that he wouldn't go back to bed. She went to leave his room, but when she reached the door she turned around.

"When you're finished, can you go wake up your brother?" she asked.

Crono looked up at her, one foot halfway in his pant leg. "Sure, no problem."

"Good. However, no matter what your method for doing so, it can't involve water." He had a bit of a disappointed look on his face because of her limitation.

"Yes mother. I promise not to make a mess of it." The reason behind his disappointement was the way that his brother had used to wake him up the previous morning. Knowing her boys well enough had caused her to predict a need for revenge from Crono. She closed the door behind her and left him to get dressed in private.

By the time he was finished, Crono wore a dark green undershirt, a blue tunic, beige colored pants, a leather belt and a pair of brown leather boots. He cast a quick glance a himself in the mirror hanging on the wall. His reflection showed a youth of 18 years old, with deep green eyes and short spiky red hair held up by a white headband. His body was well toned all around, a fact that was more evident by looking at his muscular arms. Satisfied with his apparel, he made his way to his brother's room.

It was decorated in a similar fashion to his own. A closet in one corner, a small desk to work on, a shelf on the wall holding a few things and a single bed. On it, slept his brother Kyle. If not for a few minute details, one would have thought that they were twins, despite the fact that Crono was the older by a year. Their hair was the same color and style, they were built quite similarly and their eyes were like mirrors. But Kyle's nose was a little smaller and he was about an inch shorter in height.

With a mischievous smile on his face, Crono crept up to him, avoiding any creeky floorboards and making as little noise as possible.

"Kyle," he whispered softly.

"Kyle," he repeated, only a little louder. Kyle continued to sleep, completely oblivious to his brother's intentions. Crono then took a deep breath and leaned in close to his head.

"KYLE!" he shouted as loud as he could.

Kyle woke with a start and in his surprise, fell out of his bed, face first on the floor. "OW! What the heck was that for?"

"One word. Payback," he replied with a satisfied smirk on his face.

Kyle rubbed his nose as he sat amidst his sheets on the floor. "It suppose it could possibly have been worse. Although I'll still get you for this you know. Some way or another."

"I'll be on guard. For now, you should get dressed. Mom's making breakfast before we go to the fair."

"Alright, just give me a minute. So, if you'd be so kind as to show your way out?" Crono closed the door as he walked towards the common room. After finnally managing to separate himself from his bedsheets, Kyle went to get dressed. He looked into his closet for a moment before taking out what he decided that he wanted to wear. He decked himself in a brown shirt, a darkish green tunic of the same style as his brother, blue pants and brown leather boots. He finished by tying a green headband on his forehead and a black belt around his waist to which he attached a small knife that he used for carving little wooden figurines. He quickly made his bed before grabbing a pouch in which a placed a few things and also attached to his belt.

He walked out of his room and down the stairs. He sat down at the table with his brother. "Morning mom. What's for breakfast?"

"Good morning Kyle. Breakfast will be eggs and bacon. It'll be ready in a minute." He could smell his mother's cooking coming from the stove. It made both his and Crono's mouths water in anticipation. True to her word, a minute later she was setting down two plates with the mentioned food as well as juice and bread. They both ate their food, savoring every bit of it. The eggs came from their chickens, the bread their mother had made the previous day and the bacon was from on of their neighbours' pigs. When they were finished, they went to clean their dishes in the sink, but their mother insisted on doing herself and sending them off to the fair. "Here's some more gold for you two to spend." She gave each of them some money which they placed in their pouches. "Oh! And your friend Lucca came by while you were both off in dreamland. She left this note before leaving."

Lucca was Crono and Kyle's childhood friend. She and her father were inventors. The two brothers often found themselves helping out with whatever crazy project she had in mind. Her hobbies, along with her personality set her apart from most girls her age. She was a fiercely independant young woman who took no insults from anyone, though she was usually 'softer' when around her friends. Crono took the note that his mother handed him and held it out so that his brother would be able to read it as well.

_"Crono and Kyle. I came by at eight, but you were both sleeping. I didn't want to wake you up since you were so cranky the last time I did."_

"That's because it was at six in the morning when we were out camping," Kyle complained.

"I remember. She was 'just testing' her new alarm clock. It probably woke up half of Guardia," Crono added.

_"Anyway, just wanted to remind you that the two of you did promise to come see me and my father's newest invention at the science exhibit located at the far end of the square. Our presentation starts at 9am sharp. Try not to be late this time. I'll be waiting. Lucca"_

The two boys looked at the old grandfather clock in the room and saw that it's hands showed 8: 55. Their eyes bugged out as they realized that they only had a few minutes before they would be late. Both slowly turned their heads towards each other, silently telling the other that they needed to run. Just as they were about to do so, their mother held them back. She wrapped her arms around her sons in a warm and firm hug. "I love you. If only your father was alive to see what fine lads you've become. He would have been so proud."

They each put an arm around her to return the embrace. "I love you too mom," they both said.

"Now off you go! I won't have you missing out on all the fun."

"Later." They gave their mother one last farewell before rushing out the door. They both ran at high speeds, neither surpassing the other. They were going as fast as any marathon runner, a fact that was proven when they flew by one making his way to the fair. The two brothers were well known by the people living in the area for being in excellent physical shape. Their fitness was influenced by many factors. For one, they spent a lot of time helping out their mother with the chores around the house. Such as taking care of the chickens and tending to the garden, both of which contributed to keeping their shelves stocked. During the wintertime, they'd go out with a sleigh and an axe to haul wood for fire. They also worked at the docks nearby on occassion and in the village going various jobs to earm a little money for their family.

In their freetime, Crono and Kyle would occassionally watch soldiers train with different weapons. They'd then do the same between themselves, alghough they only used sticks that were shaped in whatever style they preferred. Crono would use a shorter stick that he'd treat like a katana, whereas Kyle favored a longer one that he'd wield like a spear. Not only did they practice fighting with wooden weapons, but also they sparred against each other in wrestling and hand to hand combt. Along with that, they would spend time competing to see which one of them was the fastest runner.

Apart from work and exercise, they did do other things. For example, Crono had discovered some time ago that he had a talent for playing music, especially the flute. When he'd hear a new song that appealed to him, he would practice over and over again until he could practicaly play it without making mistakes. Kyle on the other hand, was better at arts. He did drawings and carved little wooden figurines, some of which he sold and some he collected in his room. Apart from that, he was also good at juggling, but there had been a few accidents when he'd dropped the balls on hs head, much to the amusement of the people watching.

They both came near the edge of the town, neither one falling behind the other. "Getting tired yet?" Kyle asked tauntingly.

"You wish," Crono replied. Each put in one final burst of speed before they reached the first house within Truce's limits that they had chosen as their finish line. Kyle and Crono were now breathing heavily, sweat running freely down their faces. They looked up when they heard giggling nearby. Standing a short distance from them were three blond girls. The girl in the middle wore a yellow skirt and top of the same color, the one to her left was dressed in green and the last one was wearing red. "Hi Emma, Catherine, Kate," Kyle greeted the girls from left to right.

"Helo boys," the three girls responded in unison, smiling at them and batting their eyelashes. The two brother blushed faintly and put a hand on the back of their heads at the girls' actions. More giggling ensued because of the way they reacted.

"So, where are you headed to in such a hurry?" the girl in yellow spoke.

"We've got to get to the science exibit to see Lucca and her father's new invention," Crono explained. "She said it starts at nine, so we need to move it if we don't want to get there too late."

"I'm afraid she was just playing with you. The exibit starts at nine, but they only show thei invention at eleven." Both their mouths dropped open. On the one hand, they were grateful that they now had more than enough time to make it to the science exibit. But on the other, they were stunned by the joke that Lucca had pulled on them. The three girls laughed at their shocked expressions.

"So which one of us arrived first," Kyle asked after having recovered.

"I say it was Crono," Emma answered.

"I think it was Kyle," Kate said.

Catherine thought for a moment before giving her opinion. "I'd have to admit that it was a draw." Crono and Kyle had looks of minor disapointment at not being declared the winner. "You two really are competitive, aren't you?"

"Only for a couple of things," Crono replied. She raised an eyebrow in doubt. "Ok, ok, maybe a little more than that. So why are you three here?"

"We were just tired and wanted to take a break from the crowds."

"Good for you. Well I guess we'll be going now. Nice talking to you." With that, the brothers continued on their way to the fair, though at a more leisurely pace. After a few minutes they arrived at Leene Square. Balloons, garlands, ribbons and confetti of all sorts of colors hung from nearly every place possible. There were all sorts of rides, games and stalls. In one area was a small petting zoo and in another, stood a large tent with a sign naming it 'The House of Horrors'. People of different nations walked about, mingling without problems. From dark skinned to a nearly white pale, tall, short, young and old.

"Wow! The place sure does look nice," Kyle exclaimed.

"Yeah! Well, this is where we part. Catch you later bro." Crono gripped his sibling's hand and gave him a pat on the back that was returned before they went about their own way.

Kyle walked about for some time, simply taking in the sights, occasionally talking to a few people. He came up to a game in which the objective was to hit a plank with a sledge hammer. The other end would then rise up and lift a stone that would ring a bell at the top if the person hit hard enough. "Greetings good sir," the man managing the game spoke. "If you're feeling strong today, then step right up. All you need to do is ring the bell three time out of five to win. Up for it?"

"Yeah, I think I'll give it a try." The man gave Kyle the sledge hammer and motioned for him to go ahead. He held the hammer behind his back and swung it forward in a vertical arc with all his might. He hit the plank which flipped up and sent the stone rocketing to ring the bell. He repeated the same motion twice, both with the same success. "That was fun. So what did I win?"

"Well done sir," he said, still shocked a little by Kyle's strength. "You won fifteen silver tokens to spend in the fair."

"Thank you." Kyle turned around and continued exploring the fair. He got to a part that had been cleared for foot races. Kyle walked to a man standing behind a desk. He had a sign that showed this as the place for betting silver tokens on the competitors.

"Hello sir. Care to place a bet? The next race will begin in a minute."

"Actually, I was just wondering I can participate."

"That you may do. So, what is your name?"

"My name's Kyle. And I'd like to bet fifteen tokens on myself." He reached into his pouch and took out all the little coins he'd earned from the previous game. He placed them on the man's desk who wrote his name down as well as the amount of his wager, before taking his bet and placing it in a bag he held.

"Just walk to the starting line over there and wait for the signal." He pointed at a flag post where the other racers were gathered. There were four other contestants getting ready for the race to begin. Kyle got into the starting position beside the others.

A man holding a flag explained the rules to them. "You have to go around the track twice, first person to finish is the winner. And no playing dirty or you will be disqualified. Now get ready, get set, GO!" He waved his flag to signal them to begin. Kyle immediately took the lead and kept running just ahead of the person right behind him. He felt the air blow on his face as he raced around the track. He continued like this for a moment until the racer behind stuck out his foot and tripped him when the official couldn't see. As Kyle began to fall forward, he covered his head with his arms and let himself drop into a roll. He got up only a moment later, but it had still cost him the lead. He continued to run behind the leader, determined not to let him win. They were at the last stretch when Kyle pushed himself to his limit. He caught up with the cheater who tried to trip his again, but this time he saw it coming and jumped over the offending limb and rushed past the finish line first.

The people watching cheered at his triumph, except for some that had placed their bets against him. "Thank you, thank you very much," he said to the crowd.

He walked off the track to the man at the desk. "Congratulations for your victory. Here are your winnings." He handed him back the fifteen tokens along with an additional thirty.

"Thanks." He walked around until he stopped at a tent which traded silver tokens for various prizes. He looked at the items displayed to check for how many tokens he'd need. "Hi. Can I get that stick?" he pointed at a wooden staff behind the person at the counter.

"Yes sir. Just forty tokens if you please." Kyle fished out the required number of silver tokens and laid them in front of him. The person counted them, then turned around and grabbed the staff which they gave to him. "Have a nice day."

"Same to you." Kyle then went to a bench where he sat down to examine his latest possession. It was almost as tall as him, about two inches thick and was a darkish brown color. He took his carving knife from his belt and got lost in his work. He thinned off a surface from the tip that was about as long as his extended hand. When he was done, the top part of the staff was shaped just like a spear head. He then added some lines and various little designs along the shaft. The most prominent one was below the head, where it looked like a gust of wind was blowing. He put away his knife, picked up the wood shavings and dropped them into a garbage can.

He glanced around to make sure that he had room where he was standing. He tried a few movements with his new weapon to get the feel for it. He did spins, thrusts and parries of different kinds. After doing it for a moment, he decided that he was satisfied. Kyle kept it in hand as he walked some more, using it like a walking stick.

He wandered about until he stopped in front of a long table laden with weapons of all sorts. There were long swords, broad swords, katanas, daggers, spears, bows, crossbows and many more. Whatever the kind of weapon, the metal gleamed in the sunlight. He looked at them closer and could see that none of them had even the tiniest flaw. He could tell that they had to have been forged by an amazingly skilled person for them to be of such high quality. One particular spear caught his eye. It was made entirely of steel, the shaft as well as the head. It shone in the sunlight just like all the other items displayed.

"Well hello there! How may I help you?"

A small round man now stood behind the table. Kyle had been so absorbed by the weapons that he had failed to notice the man walking up to him. He was a strange looking man. He wore clothes that were not of any fashion that Kyle could recognize as being from anywhere nearby. Although, there were many people that wore uncommon clothing for the fair, so he paid no mind to it. He had a broad smile on his face, almost entirely covered by a thick white moustache. His head sported a blue hat trimmed with orange that made Kyle think of the little paper boats that kids made sometimes. Underneath it, his eyes were concealed by a pair of small black spectacles. He spoke in an accent that like his clothing, Kyle was unable to tell where it was from.

"Hello sir. I was just looking at your display of weapons. They're truly remarkable!"

"Thank you. I made them all by myself."

Kyle looked at him with an almost unbelieving look on his face. "Seriously!? You're not joking!?" He shook his head. "Wow! You must be really good! How come I haven't seen you before? I'm sure I would have heard about someone with your amazing skills."

"I live a long distance away from here. I thought that it would be a good opportunity to come here for the fair. Say, you look like you know a bit on the subject of weaponry," the man said, indicating Kyle's 'walking stick'.

He grinned sheepishly as he showed him the wooden weapon. "I made it myself. Just took a good stick and carved away. I usually do smaller things though." He reached into his pouch and retrieved a small wood figure. It was of a plow attached to a large muscular ox.

"Ah! So you're an artisan as well. This is good work."

"Thanks. Umm, I don't suppose I could take a look at this spear?" Kyle pointed to the one he'd been looking at previously.

"Of course you may." He picked it up and passed it to him. Kyle looked at it even more closely, carefully noting every detail he could. To his surprise, even though it was made entirely of metal, it was still fairly light, yet it was very solid. He held the metal spear in his left hand and his wooden one in his right so he could compare them. They were pretty similar in appearance, except for the color. They were the same length, width and the head was shaped about the same as well. The most notable similarity was just below the sharp end, the metal weapon had a design that looked like the one that Kyle had made on his own.

"Strange that they look this similar," Kyle murmured to himself. "It must cost a fortune for something of this quality."

"For a weapon like that one, it would be about three-thousand eight hundred gold pieces."

Kyle's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets upon hearing the amount. Even if he'd known that it would come with a high price tag, it had still surprised him. Although he made money from occasionally selling his pieces of art, he'd never had much for spending himself, seeing as most of it went to support him, his brother and his mother. Regretfully he passed it pack to the strange man. "I'm afraid it's a little too much out of my price range."

"Maybe another time then. Although, tell you what, I can give you something to carry the one you already have."

"Ok then. How much for that?"

"Just trade me that little figurine you showed me a minute ago and you can have this." He showed him an assortment of fine leather straps arranged so he'd be able to carry his wooden spear on his back.

"Really? Thanks." He gave the man the figure he'd asked for and in return he took the sheath for his latest creation. Kyle listened to him as he explained exactly how to put it on and even gave him a little help when he was confused. After finally having placed it around his body, Kyle found himself to still be quite comfortable in it. He placed his spear on his back and took it off as easily as if he were cutting through soft butter with a hot knife.

"So, do you like it?"

"Yes. It feels good and it's easy to access it."

"Glad to see that you do. It was a pleasure doing business with you. If we ever meet again, call me Melchior." Kyle placed his spear on his back again and shook the man's hand.

"Nice to meet you. My name's Kyle. Until next time." Kyle then turned around to continue having fun in the fair. He briefly wondered what Crono was doing, but set the thought aside for now.

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I hope that you liked it. Please review if you have comments, suggestions or anything to say. And for anyone who's watched disney's version of beauty and the beast, the idea for the scene with the three girls came from that movie because of the triplets that wear red, green and yellow.


	2. The Millennial Fair

Disclaimer: Bla bla bla, don't own Chrono Trigger, bla bla bla

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Chrono Trigger: The Untold Story

By: Patattack

**The Millennial Fair**

The two brothers parted after their short embrace. Crono walked about by himself, looking at the different things present at the fair. He passed by a pair of street performers dressed in bright skin tight clothes. They were doing cartwheels, flips, bending themselves at impossible angles and many other stunts most people wouldn't even dream of. His attention was caught by them and he decided to stay and watch for a while. One of the two women ran towards the other, who cupped her hands in which the first stepped on. She jumped off, did a back flip and landed perfectly straight. They then both laid down flat on their stomachs close to each other. Acting like mirrors, they arced their legs over their backs, past their heads, until their feet were touching. They stayed in this pose for a short moment before standing up again. After that, they locked themselves in a tight embrace and asked for someone from the audience to tie them together with a rope. A young woman about the same age as them stepped forward and wrapped the rope around them until it seemed that it would be impossible for them to separate. But, gradually they twisted and contorted themselves until they were free.

Crono applauded their performance along with the rest of the crowd, some of which threw the women money. Deciding that he'd had enough of them for a while and that he wanted to see other things, Crono left them behind and continued exploring the different entertainments available. He walked through a bazaar, the people there selling an incredible variety of wares. Such as rugs, fancy clothing, footwear, lamps, food and all sorts of things. He wandered around until he came to a place with ropes tied to a bunch of wooden poles arranged in a square. In the middle stood a bare-chested man holding a wooden sword, with an audience standing out of the designated area. A smaller man was walking out of it, rubbing his stomach with his hand. "Is there anyone amongst you who thinks themselves skilled enough to take on Calin, the amazing swordsman?" another man spoke. He stood on a slightly elevated platform, besides which was a stack of wooden swords, spears and staves. "A prize awaits whoever manages to defeat this talented whirlwind."

"I'll try myself against him," Crono said.

The man looked around for the voice and spotted Crono with his hand raised. "Ah we have someone brave enough to volunteer. Just come choose your weapon and step into the ring," he pointed to the spot with the ropes. Crono walked to the stack of weapons and grabbed a sword. He weighed, examined and moved it a little to evaluate how good it was. As it didn't meet his standards, he set it back and picked up another. He repeated this procedure a few times until he found one that suited him. He ducked under the ropes that separated the combatants from the audience and stood face to face with his opponent.

"So you think you have what it takes kid?" the man asked in a taunting manner.

"Why else would I be here?" he replied.

"Please stay at the opposite ends of the ring until my signal." The two fighters did as told. "Now just as a reminder, there can be no hits to the eyes, no hits below the waist, but the rest is fair game. Now stand ready." Calin grinned as he held his sword in front of him, confident in his victory. Crono studied him as he mimicked his movements. He knew that he had to have some talent, seeing as he had no bruises on him. "Begin!" The shirtless man and the youth took a few steps towards each other. As soon as they were within reach, Calin swung his sword towards Crono's head. He blocked simply by pulling his wrists back, causing his sword to stop his opponent's without him moving the rest of his body. The man stood shocked for the briefest moment before they continued.

Calin pulled back as Crono's right foot shot out towards his stomach. Crono followed up with a thrust that was countered by a side swing. Calin then raised his sword and brought it down towards his opponent who met it with an opposite movement. They went on like this for a bit until Crono caught the man off guard when he feinted high and struck him just below the ribcage. He raised his elbow and hit his wrist, causing him to release his hold on the sword. He finished by spinning around and sweeping his legs out from under him. Calin fell flat on his back and stayed in that position when Crono placed his weapon on his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen. We have a winner. Congratulations!" Crono took his sword away from his fallen opponent and offered him his hand. He took it and pulled himself up.

"You're good kid. Can't say I expected you to win. Who taught you?"

"No one. My brother and I learned by ourselves and we practice often enough."

"Well, you're one hell of a swordsman." He gave Crono a strong handshake which was returned just as firmly.

He walked out of the ring and placed the wooden sword on the rack with the other weapons. "Well done young sir," the announcer said. "You've earned twenty silvers tokens." He handed Crono a bunch of small coins with the words "Millennial Fair" imprinted on them, which he put in his pouch. "You can spend them at many places in the fair and I believe there's a place you can exchange them for money."

"Thanks." He turned around and walked back through the crowds of people. Once again he passed through the bazaar. Deciding that racing against his brother, walking around the square and crossing swords with Calin had made him hungry, Crono stopped at one of the restaurants. "Excuse me. Can I get something to eat?" He asked as he sat on one of the stools at the counter.

The person behind the counter turned around to face Crono and their face light up in recognition. "Hey Crono! How's life going for you?" The person in question was a young woman about two years younger than Crono. Her hair was a light brown color and fell down to the base of her neck in a braid. Her eyes were a darker shade of brown and her lips were bright red, indicating that she'd applied lipstick. She wore a darkish green sleeveless dress, along with a white apron stained a little by food and two simple identical earrings.

Crono recognized her almost immediately after seeing her face. "Hello Elaine. I'm doing pretty well, how about you?" Elaine was the daughter of a well off store owner with his shop in the center of town. Crono and his family bought most of the food they didn't grow from them and even traded some of the products from their garden at their shop.

"I'm fine thank you very much. Father decided to try a different way to sell his stock. So he rented this place, turned it into a restaurant and turned me into a cook. Here's a menu, you can pick whatever catches your fancy." She handed him a short menu which he looked through briefly before deciding what he wanted.

"Can I have a small fish and chips please? And a glass of water too?" Crono asked politely.

"Course you can. It'll be done before you know it." Elaine turned back to prepare his order. She worked quickly but efficiently as well. Cutting up the potatoes and fish, cooking them separate from each other at the same time and taking the food out at the exact moment that it was ready. She set the meal on a plate which she placed in front of Crono along with a glass of water. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Crono ate his food slowly, taking time to talk with Elaine who stayed near him, seeing as there weren't any other customers at the moment.

"So, how's your family?" she asked curiously.

"Well mom's still her usual self. She's still as up and going as normal. Nothing out of the ordinary regarding her I'd say. Kyle on the other hand, let's just say that I'll be keeping an eye out for him the next few days."

"Oh yeah? What did you do to him this time?"

"I woke him up in a rather... Vocal manner this morning, as payback for what he did to me the day before." Elaine rose an eyebrow in question at his explanation. "He woke me up last morning by taking cold water that he'd kept in the fridge and splashing it right on my face." Elaine giggled as Crono recounted what had happened before. "Hey! It was really cold water!"

"Never one to take it lying down are you?"

"Yeah, well anyways. What about you? How's your family doing?"

"Dad's all right. He seems to think he's still in his twenties and can do what he did at that age. But I try to keep him in check with reality so he doesn't hurt himself."

"What about Fritz? Did you receive any news from his yet?" Fritz was Elaine's older brother and a good acquaintance of Crono and his family. He'd gone on a trip overseas for his father's shop and no one had heard from him in weeks.

Elaine's expression showed sorrow at mention of her brother. "I'm afraid not. He's been gone for too long, it never took him this much time before. He must have run into trouble of some sort."

"Don't worry. I'm sure he'll be back soon enough. Maybe the weather kept him back longer than normal. I bet he's probably thinking about you as we speak and how much he misses his sister," Crono spoke with sincerity.

His words were apparently effective in cheering her up as a smile formed on her face. "Thanks for the support Crono. It really helps. Whoa! You've finished already?" She pointed to his plate, now devoid of any morsel of food.

"I guess I was hungrier than I thought. You're a really good cook, you know that?"

"Thank you. Glad to see that you liked it so much." She took his empty plate and glass and set them aside to take care of later. "So, did you have much fun at the fair yet?"

"Yeah. Kyle and I actually raced each other to get here, it ended up in a draw though. We were going to see Lucca's newest invention, but we found out later that it's only at eleven. Then I just sort of wandered around a bit and I crossed swords with another guy over there." He indicated the general direction that he'd come from. "Apart from that, I came here and that's all I've done so far. So, how much is it for the food?"

"I'll let you have it for free, for being a good friend."

"Surely there's something I can give you for this. It was too good to do otherwise."

"Well, I don't suppose you have any silver tokens? I wanted to try out some of the rides later on and I don't have any."

"Yeah I've got a bunch." Crono reached into his pouch and pulled out the small coins that he'd earned for defeating Calin earlier. He tried giving most of them to her, but she insisted on him keeping some for himself. "Thanks for the food. And it was nice talking with you." They waved goodbye to each other and Crono left to go explore the rest of the fair.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kyle was wandering around the fair himself, after having concluded his business with Melchior. He was just looking around at the sights, when he felt something rub against his leg. He looked down and saw a tabby cat rubbing itself against him. It was an average size, its fur was orange and it had black stripes on its back. "Hello there kitty. What are you doing? Don't you have an owner?" The cat simply purred in response. Kyle then picked it up in his arms and seeing as it had a collar on its neck, he decided to look for someone who might have lost it. He walked about, asking people if it belonged to them, none of whom said yes. He spotted a little girl about eight years old crying on a bench, with her mother attempting to console her. He approached the two and held the cat so they could see it. "Excuse me, but is this cat yours?" he asked the little girl.

She looked up at him and her tears of sadness were replaced by ones of joy. "You found Mr. Teeny." She jumped from her seat and took the pet that Kyle handed her. "Thanks mister, he's my favourite cat. I lost him a while ago and looked many places but couldn't find him."

The girl's mother stood up as the animal was returned. "Thank you for finding my daughter's cat. She really does love him and was upset when he got away. I don't know how to repay you."

"Don't worry about it mam. You don't need to repay me at all. It was my pleasure to help." The young teenager offered her his best smile.

"Please, at least tell me your name so I can properly thank you for your kindness."

"Sure thing. My name's Kyle." The woman thanked him again. "Say, would you happen to know what time it is?" She looked at her wristwatch and showed it to him so he saw that it was 10:45. "Well my friend's waiting for me so I should go now." Kyle said goodbye before heading towards the far end of the square to see Lucca's invention. Since he had enough time, Kyle walked at a more leisurely pace than earlier in the morning. Leene Square had been built on a bit of a slant, so there were higher levels at he progressed. Finally Kyle arrived at the stairway to the last level and was able to see a crowd of people standing in an area that the trees had been cleared so the remaining ones formed a wide square. He made his way past two men, up the stairs and stood among the people watching someone display their invention. One person in particular caught his eye and he walked next to her. "Hi Lucca," he said as he tapped her on the shoulder.

The girl in question looked beside her and saw the red haired teenager. Her own hair was a dark purplish color that dropped to her neck and her light blue eyes were covered by a pair of wide glasses. She wore a bluish green long sleeve shirt and on top of that, a big orange tunic that went down to a little below her waist line. She also wore a pair of tight black shorts that ended halfway between her knees and hips, as well as a pair of sturdy brown leather boots. Strapped over her right shoulder, was a big gray bag and attached to her belt were a couple of pouches that most likely contained things used for her inventions. She sported a strange green hat with a metal device that went around the base and covered most of the right side of her head in a way that made it seem like a helmet. "Hello Kyle. How are you doing today?"

"I'm fine. Except for that little joke you played on Crono and me."

"What are possibly referring to?" Lucca grinned as she spoke, a look of false innocence on her face.

"You know what I'm talking about. The message that you left us, saying that your presentation started at nine when it's only the exhibit that starts at that time. We only left the house at five minutes before nine and ran like the devil himself was on our tail. If we hadn't stopped to talk with Emma, Catherine and Kate, who were gracious enough to tell us what time you actually started, we probably would have run the whole way and dropped dead when we got here." Lucca laughed a little at Kyle's overreaction. "So, what's this guy doing?" he indicated the person currently on the platform.

"Just listen and you'll see."

The contraption on the platform was about as big as an average man, but its shape was simply rectangular. Although, it had a face painted on the front, along with a hole where the mouth was and two circular objects on each side that looked almost like ears. The man working on it closed a panel at the back and turned to address the audience. "Welcome to the science fair everyone. I am most grateful to see so many of you here present. Now if you'll set your sights on this little device here," he pointed to his invention, "I may explain its purpose."

He flicked a switch on the back and an odd voice spoke from inside the machine. "I am C3905. Please ask questions, I will answer." A murmur of interest rose from among the crowd before the inventor calmed them down.

"As it just said, it's a machine that can answer questions. You simply talk clearly into the earpiece, the brain processes your request and then the mouth spits out the answer." More murmuring arose at his words. "Now, do I have a volunteer? Just step right up and ask away." Kyle raised his hand along with a bunch of other people. Lucca did not raise hers, instead she rolled her eyes at her friend. "You there," the man pointed to Kyle, "come right up if you will." The youth in question walked up to the platform and stood next to the man presenting. "What's your name?" He told him his name. "Well then Kyle, ask any question you want."

Kyle thought about what to ask before turning towards the machine and speaking into the earpiece with a childish grin on his face. "What is the sum of one plus one?" The crowd laughed at the fact that he asked such a simplistic question. Lucca again rolled her eyes at her friend.

The machine made no sounds for a moment, then instead of answering, steam started to come out of the earpieces and its mouth. It also began to progressively shake more and more. "Gahhh. I must have forgotten to program calculations into its systems." The man shouted hysterically.

As the contraption was now in a state that prevented anyone from reaching the switch to turn it off, Kyle and the inventor jumped off the stage and backed away from it, along with the rest of the people watching. After a short moment, the invention stopped moving. But immediately afterwards, much to the surprise of all, it caught fire and before anyone could think about putting it out, it exploded in a shower of pieces and sparks. Fortunately, no one had been close enough for the blast to receive any injuries. "Well that was unexpected," Kyle said, after everyone had recovered from the shock.

Having heard the noise, the two guards that had been stationed at the base of the stairs came up and started to usher the crowd away. "Come on now, everyone out. No need to worry, the science fair will simply be postponed until this mess is cleaned up." Dejectedly the people filed away from the last level and down the stairway.

"Well now you've done it." Lucca spoke to her friend in the same tone that a mother would use to reprimand their child, but with a touch of mockery in her voice.

"Aww come on! How was I supposed to know what would happen? Even the least intelligent being alive would have known the answer. How could I have expected that some guy would build a machine that could answer questions, but not be able to add?"

Lucca gave a short laugh as Kyle attempted to defend himself. "Don't worry yourself," she reassured him. "The worst thing that'll result from this is the fact that the exhibit's delayed for a while."

"I wonder what Crono will think of this when he shows up."

* * *

After wandering about the fair by himself for a while, Crono thought to look for the time to make sure that he wasn't late to see Lucca's invention. He checked around and saw a large clock hanging from a pole. Surprisingly, it showed Crono that he had but a few minutes to make it to the end of the square. 'Whoa! I must have lost track of time,' he thought. Then once again, the well formed youth sped in the direction that he knew Lucca's presentation would be located. Crono ran almost as fast as he could, occasionally slowing down a bit to avoid barrelling into other people.

He mentally scolded himself for cutting it this close, especially since didn't really have an excuse for being late. He had been waiting for the fair with excitement, particularly for Lucca's new invention. She hadn't told him a single word to him about what it was, intending only to reveal it at the science exhibit. Crono desperately sought to make it on time, one reason being that he had waited for a while to see it, the other and possibly more important to him, was that he didn't want to disappoint his friend.

He was thinking so much about these things, that by now he was concentrating solely on making it to the end of the square on time so as to not disappoint his friend. Fortunately, the path between him and his destination was for the moment clear of obstructions. It did not stay like this for long. For a young woman was running from a different direction towards a spot that they would both reach soon.

They had been so focused on their own destinations, that neither of them had noticed the other even when they had collided, though they had taken into account that something had caused them to fall to the ground. Crono shook his head a little in an attempt to shake off the dizziness that he felt. He then got to his feet and looked around to see what could possibly have caused him to fall down like that. He spotted a young woman close to his own age sitting on the cobblestone pavement just a few feet away from him. Realizing that he'd caused her to fall down, Crono immediately stood next to her and offered a hand to help her up. "I'm sorry for running into you. I was too focused on where I was going and didn't pay attention. I'm sorry for any harm I caused you." He apologized as she took his hand and got to her feet.

She then dusted off her knees and rearranged a few strands of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail. As she did so, she looked into the young man's eyes and froze, her mouth open slightly as if the words she'd intended to say had simply disappeared. The young woman in question had eyes blue like ice and hair dyed a bright orange color. She wore what seemed to be a strapless dress, except that from the waist down, it was split just like normal pants. It was made of high quality white linen and almost completely immaculate except for a few spots because of her fall. She had a pair of matching bracelets on each wrist and a belt at her waist, all of which were lined with the slightest bit of gold. Also, attached to her belt was a pouch that seemed a little more common than the rest of her apparel, along with a pair of fine shoes made for the outdoors. They soon both realized that they were staring at each other, which cause them to blush a little and rub the back of their heads. The girl recovered from her stupor first. "I-It's okay. I'm fine, really. No harm done. I wasn't paying attention either. I'm sorry. It was my fault too."

"Glad to see that you're okay," Crono said, reassured.

As they were talking, she moved her hand over her neckline and upper chest, as if she were checking for something that should be there. When she found nothing she looked down and let out a horrified gasp. "Oh no! My pendant's not on me. Where did it go?" She looked around her for the mentioned object.

"I'm sorry. What was that?" Crono asked, a look of confusion on his face.

"I lost my pendant. It's an heirloom that's been in my family for many generations. It's my most treasured possessions." She then got down on her hands and knees and began to search for any place that it could have landed. Feeling responsible, Crono began to look for it as well. A small glimmer caught his eye about ten feet from them. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to a piece of jewellery. It was a magnificent jewel inset in a silver casing with words engraved in the back, but that had faded with age. He picked it up by the thin golden chain that was attached to it. The whole thing shone brightly in the sunlight.

He turned towards the girl who was still trying to find her pendant by herself. He crouched down and tapped her on the shoulder while the item dangled from his hand. "Excuse me. Is this what you were looking for? he asked.

She turned around from her search and let out a gasp of surprise as her face lit up in joy at the sight of her jewellery. "Yes it is!" she replied in an excited voice. "May I please have it back?" she said, almost pleadingly.

"Of course you can." Crono placed the pendant in her hand and helped her up again. She looked it over and seemed to be satisfied with its condition, seeing as she now had a smile on her face. She took both ends of the chain and tied it around her neck. It rested on the tip of her upper chest.

She gave Crono a beaming smile. "Thank you! Thank you so much! I would have been so sad if you hadn't found it."

He smiled back at her. "Hey no problem. The pleasure was all mine." Crono's eyes widened as he remembered that he still needed to get to the clearing up ahead for Lucca's presentation. "I'm sorry to be in such a rush, but I really need to go. My friend has an invention she's going to show at the science exhibit and I promised her that I'd go see it."

He went to turn around and run off again when she gently grabbed his sleeve. He looked back and saw her standing nervously. "Umm... I'm new around here and I don't really know my way around. And umm... are you from the area?" He nodded and she continued in an unsteady voice. "I was wondering if umm... if you wouldn't mind showing me around?"

Crono looked at her, a torn expression on his face. "I don't know. I'll be late if I take too long..."

"Then can I go with you? You're the only person I've met so far and you seem so nice. Please, I'll buy you candy or something else you want." She smiled and made puppy eyes at him.

Crono face changed into a warm smile at her words and her pleading look. "Oh all right. You can come along. It's always fun to meet new people."

She gave a cry of joy and jumped up a little as he accepted. "Thank you! Thank you very much! You're such a gentlemen!"

"Come on, let's go. My friend's supposed to show her invention for the exhibit at eleven." They both ran in the direction that Crono had originally been going, him ahead and her just behind. Fortunately, they didn't have a long distance left to go, so they arrived at the final stairway after a short time. A crowd of people was amassed at the bottom of the stairs, which were blocked off by two men. "What's going on? It can't have finished already," he said to one of the guards.

"Of course it hasn't," he replied.

"Lucky you heh?" Crono looked around and spotted a couple of familiar faces among the throng of people. Standing next to each other was his brother and Lucca. "I'd have started already if it hadn't been for the results of the last presentation." Lucca tilted her head to the side a little. "So... Who's your new friend?"

Crono had a look of confusion on his face at the question. Lucca indicated the young woman beside him and he blushed as he understood the question. "Well I... I was in a bit of a rush when we met and didn't really think about asking her name."

Lucca raised an eyebrow at his response, whereas a malicious grin spread across Kyle's face. He whistled in an impressed manner. "Wow Crono! You've certainly developed your skills with women if you attracted her attention without knowing her name. I've gotta say that I never thought you were such a ladies' man," Kyle said jokingly.

Crono blushed so much that his face was almost as red as his hair. Kyle laughed at his brother's embarrassed reaction. Lucca gave him a light slap on the back. "Don't mind him," she addressed the woman beside Crono. "He just can't stop making fun of his brother."

Crono mumbled a few words to himself, along the lines of, "Tell me something I don't know." He resumed his normal voice and spoke to the orange haired woman. "I'd like you to meet my friend Lucca," he indicated the inventor who nodded. "And as unfortunate as it is, he's my brother Kyle."

"Aww come on. I'm not that bad," he said in a humorous voice.

"So, what about you then? What's your name?" Lucca asked.

Strangely enough, the young woman with the ponytail hesitated, as if she were deciding on her answer. This didn't go unnoticed by the two brothers and Lucca, although she seemed to pay more attention to it. After a short moment, she gave them an answer. "I-It's M-Marle."

"Marle then?" Lucca said. She had a questioning look on her face. Even if the name they'd been given hadn't entirely convinced Lucca, what really puzzled her was the fact that she felt as if she knew her, but couldn't quite remember from where. "If you say so."

"Hey Lucca, what's happened with the exhibit?" Crono asked.

"The last participant had some machine that was supposed to be able to answer any questions. Then Kyle walked up to it and asked one of the easiest questions imaginable. Instead of answering, it just caught on fire and blew up right after."

Marle gasped. "Was anyone hurt?"

"No. There's no need to worry. Nobody suffered even the slightest scratch. But its pieces scattered all over, so it'll probably be at least an hour before the place is cleaned up for the next presentation."

"Ok then. Do you want to come with us until it starts again?" Crono asked.

Lucca shook her head. "No. I have to wait until it's cleaned up enough for my father and I to set up our project. Just go on by yourselves until then."

"Are you sure? I can stay to help if you want," Kyle suggested.

She laughed a little at his offer. "No thanks. I want our invention to be a surprise. And besides, it might be too complicated for you. Why don't you all just go enjoy the fair and come back at 12:00?"

"All right then. We'll see you later." Kyle, Crono and Marle then turned around and went back the way they came.

* * *

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you liked it. Please leave a review if you have any comments, suggestions, or are just pointing out mistakes I made. Next chapter: Lucca's invention goes haywire and sends Marle away. Crono chases after her and Kyle stays to help Lucca. I'm pretty sure there was something else I wanted add here, but I can't remember so I'll just leave this for now.


	3. An Unexpected Turn of Events

Disclaimer: I don't own Crono Trigger, I never have and likely I never will.

* * *

Chrono Trigger: The Untold Story

By: Patattack

**An Unexpected Turn of Events**

Crono, Marle and Kyle walked together for a bit, making small talk as they went. Eventually they reached a point when Kyle decided it was proper to leave his brother alone with his 'newest acquaintance' as he put it. "Later bro, you too Marle. I think I'll leave you two to yourselves." He then winked suggestively at the two of them and ran off before Crono would be tempted to do anything in retaliation.

"He certainly seems in a good mood," Marle commented.

"He's always in a good mood when he's making fun of me. Even more so since it's his manner of payback."

"Payback for what?" Marle inquired.

"Nothing," Crono replied simply.

"Come on now. Surely you can tell me what."

"Well... all right. I just woke him up pretty loudly this morning. And seeing as he isn't one to let that go unpunished..."

"And what did he do to deserve that then?"

"It involves him, cold water and me sleeping." Marle giggled as she understood. She found herself compelled to laugh at the two boys' childishness. "Ahh, enough of that," Crono said. "Let's just go and have fun. What do you wanna do?"

"Can we go on the Ferris Wheel please?"

"Sure, we can do that."

They then walked to the designated ride. Crono took out the required number of silver tokens and passed them to the person managing it. Both sat down comfortably and pulled the safety bar over themselves. And then they were off. The ride lasted only about a minute or so, but Marle enjoyed it enough that Crono decided to offer her to go on it again. After that, Marle pulled Crono over to a shop so that she could make good on her promise to get him candy. They chose a few, with Marle insisting on paying for them for him showing her around. The two of them walked around, eating some of the sweets as they went.

After a short visit to the House of Horrors, which had left Marle clinging to Crono every time she jumped in fright, they reached a spot that had been set aside for dancing and music. A prehistoric theme could be noticed in this particular area. With the way the musicians were dressed and the music they played. "Come on Crono, lets dance," Marle said excitedly.

"Sure, sounds fun." Marle and Crono danced about for a while, letting themselves lose and dancing wildly like the other people around them. They went on until both of them felt that they'd done enough and wanted to take things at a more leisurely pace. They continued walking, simply looking around at the various entertainments.

The two strolled about in such a manner, until they passed by a stand with an impressive display of weapons. Crono's eye having been caught by this sight, he stopped to get a closer look. Marle came with him, even though the merchandise was not the kind she had any great passion for. Crono looked over the panoply of weapons in the display case, examining as best he could the details of those he saw. Like his brother, he had a good eye for such things. The weapons reflected the sunlight off the well polished metal, proving to Crono that their quality was superb and so far unmatched by any other he'd seen. His attention was caught by a katana in particular. Like the other weapons, it gleamed brightly. There was no defect whatsoever, it curved ever so slightly, ending at the perfectly pointed tip. The hilt was an ivory color, smooth and with a thin leather lining so as to allow for a strong grip. He was so focussed on it that he failed to see the man stepping out from behind the curtains in the back.

"Hello Kyle. Come back for more have you?" he greeted joyously.

The first thing that Crono noticed about the man was his unusual clothing. Like his brother, he failed to recognize where such a particular style would have come from and he couldn't help but think that his hat was shaped like a paper boat. Upon further inspection, he took note of the fact that his face was nearly covered by a thick white moustache and black glasses. "Sorry sir, Kyle's actually my younger brother."

"Oh sorry about that," he replied good naturedly.

"That's okay. Short of knowing what details to look for, few people can tell us apart," he explained.

"That explains it. So, see anything you like?" he motioned to the weapons.

"I was just looking for now. I must say, your weapons are the best I've seen so far."

"Thank you. I made them by myself."

Crono had a look of surprise on his face at hearing this. "Really?" The man nodded. "You're good. Why haven't I seen you beforehand?"

"Unfortunately I live a ways away from here. I decided to take advantage in coming to the fair." Crono nodded in understanding. "You and your brother seem to be pretty knowledgeable on the subject of weapons," he commented.

"Well, I suppose we know something about it," Crono admitted. "But we have a tendency to use wooden weapons when sparring."

"Do you do any other work apart from weapons?" Marle asked curiously.

"As a matter of fact I do. Just wait one moment please." At that, he went back through the curtains and grabbed something which he laid on the display case. It was a beautifully carved dark wooden box that they assumed he would have made himself. He unlocked and opened it before them, revealing a dazzling assortment of jewellery. There were bracelets, necklaces, rings and many other different kinds of jewels of varying colors. Crono and Marle gasped in amazement at the beauty of the charms. The man smiled triumphantly at seeing the looks on their faces. "I much prefer making jewellery like these," he said. "But unfortunately, the need for people to arm themselves makes weapons far more profitable."

"Still, both your weapons and jewels are formidable."

The man gave a small smile at Crono's compliment. His smile dropped suddenly as he saw the pendant Marle wore. His expression instantly became grimly serious. "Where did you get that?" he asked, pointing at the pendant. His voice was serious, but with an edge of fear and surprise.

"It's a family heirloom," she explained.

"How much do you want for it?" he asked.

"It's been in my family for a long time. It's not for sale," she said flatly.

"Perhaps you would consider trading for it?" he asked hopefully. Not taking notice of the look Marle gave him, he continued speaking. "If you agree to part with your pendant, I will give you all of these," he pointed to the jewellery box.

Marle gasped at the offer. "You'd trade for all of these?" She hesitated before giving her answer. "I'm afraid I can't. It wouldn't be a fair trade. And my pendant is most precious to me."

The man then asked Marle to think about it and requested that she moved away until he could talk to Crono without her hearing. She did so and he beckoned Crono to lean forward so he could whisper in his ear. "I saw you looking at that sword earlier," he said. "Do you like it?"

"Yes," he answered in a soft voice, though uncertain as to why he didn't want Marle to hear what they were saying.

"Do you know how much it costs?" Crono shook his head at this. "That sword alone is nearly four-thousand gold pieces." Crono's eyes widened and his mouth dropped a little upon hearing the amount. Though when he'd seen the quality of the blade, he'd known that the price for such a thing would be high. "However, if you manage to persuade the girl to sell me her pendant, I will give you the sword for free."

Crono felt himself torn by the decision. He very much wanted to have his own real sword, but like his brother, he had little money to spend for himself, as most of what he made went to support his family. Having restrained finances for such things, Crono and Kyle had been forced to use the wooden sticks they made until they broke or wore out. Apart from that, he knew that the weapon displayed would likely be the best one he'd find possibly in his life and that many people would have hardly hesitated before accepting the offer. But as he looked back at Marle, who had one hand around her pendant, he came to the conclusion that he would not. "Sorry sir, but I can't."

The man sighed as his offer was turned down. "Very well then. But if you ever change your mind, just know that I'll be here until the end of the fair." He motioned for Marle to come closer. "Could you come over here a moment?" She smiled broadly at Crono as she came to him. Unknowingly to the two of them, she had in fact heard their entire conversation. As Crono declined the offer, she had been convinced more then ever of the fact that he was a good person. She had felt tempted to buy the sword to thank him for being so kind, but not wanting to arouse more suspicions about her than she already done, she refrained from doing so. The man closed the box of jewels as she made her way back. "Well, I would have very much liked to have acquired the pendant you carry, but I understand your reluctance to part with it. Should you happen to change your mind, you'll know where to find me."

"Thank you for understanding," Marle said.

"No problem. If you ever come back around, just ask for Melchior." He stuck out a hand which the two of them shook firmly.

"I'm Crono."

"And my name's Marle."

"It was a pleasure meeting you. I look forward to seeing you in the future."

They walked away, waving goodbye one last time to Melchior, who took the box and returned to the back of the store. The two young people walked a bit by themselves, until Marle found that she was the slightest bit tired. "Do you mind if we sat down for a while?" she asked Crono.

"Sure, no problem. Let's just go to that bench here." They sat down on the bench that Crono suggested. They simply enjoyed sitting in the sun like this until Crono spoke up again. "So, where are you from?"

"I live in Guardia too," she replied.

"Really? Why were you lost earlier?"

Marle was caught off guard by the question. She hesitated momentarily before answering. "I live with my father and he doesn't let me out much. He never let's me do anything fun."

Crono had a puzzled look on his face. "Why's that?"

Marle huffed. "He wants me to behave in 'a proper and ladylike manner'," she said. Placing sarcastic emphasis on the words 'proper' and 'ladylike'. "He's always saying things like 'do this', 'do that', 'don't go there', 'that's not good for you'! He hardly knows anything of the world beyond his own point of view."

"Sounds like a bummer," Crono commented.

"You don't know the half of it. What about you? What's your father like?" she said in an effort to turn the conversation away for that particular subject.

"I never knew my father," Crono said in a tone of mild sadness. "He died when I was six months old more or less. Kyle wasn't even born by then. Our mother's raised us ever since."

"Sorry to hear that," Marle said sincerely.

"The only thing I have of him is this flute he made." He took a small ivory flute out of his pouch. It seemed plain and old, but was still in good condition.

"Do you play?" she asked.

"Yes. I like to practice when I have the time for it."

"Could you play something for me?" she said this with what he would describe as puppy dog eyes.

"Well, okay, sure. Ever heard 'The Wind Blows on the Eastern Seas'?" Marle shook her head. "Then how about I play that?" He placed the flute to his lips and began to play. It was a soft, melodious tune. It was one of the songs that Crono practiced a little more, so for him it was just a breeze, but to Marle it was both enchanting and complex. He played for about a minute or so until he was finished.

Marle clapped her hands as he stopped. "That was wonderful," she exclaimed. "You're really good. You could even be a court bard."

"Thanks. What makes you think I could be a court bard?" he asked, intrigued by her choice of words.

Her face momentarily twitched as she realized what she had said. "Oh, I've been to a castle once," she explained. "And my father hired a bard before."

Crono looked doubtful of this, but didn't pay much attention to it. Then he noticed Marle's watch and remembered where they needed to be. "What time is it?" he asked with a sense of urgency.

"It's… almost 12:00," she said as she checked her watch.

"Come on, the science fair starts back up at 12:00. We need to get there soon." With that, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards the destination he had in mind, though not without being gentle at the same time. As they made their way through, Crono happened to see his brother standing on a small platform with a crowd gathered around him. He was juggling balls in a way that had the people watching in awe. Deciding to warn his brother that he would be late to see Lucca and her father's invention if he didn't hurry, he made his way over to him. Upon closer inspection, he could see that Kyle was juggling six balls and that for some reason, one of them in fact was an apple. Setting aside any questions he intended to ask about that, Crono placed himself in his brother's line of sight. "Kyle, the science fair's starting in a few minutes. Might want to wrap up your act."

Kyle nodded at his brother's words. He then threw the balls higher and caught five of them in his hands when they fell back down. As for the apple, he leaned his head back and caught it with his teeth. The people watching clapped at his performance, a few of them even gave him some money. He set the balls in his pouch and took the apple in his hand. "Thank you, thank you. I appreciate all of you for watching, but I've really go to go. Till next time maybe." He then gave the crowd an extravagant bow and slipped away with Crono and Marle.

"Nice show Kyle," Crono commented.

"I agree. Pity we could only see a short moment of it," Marle added.

"Maybe I'll show you later. The fair's still young, there's always more time to do so."

The three of them quickly made their way back to the final level where Lucca and her father would be showing off their most recent invention. When they arrived, they could see that there was a lot of people gathered, enough that the square was almost full. The platform in the back for displaying the inventions now housed a contraption that seemingly no one could discern what its purpose was. The people gathered were talking amongst themselves, wondering if any accident would happen with this invention like the last. The two brothers knew for a fact that the chances of that happening were small to the point of negligible. For knowing their friend like they did, they'd know that she would have examined every last detail of her project to make sure that not even the slightest malfunction could possibly happen.

The inventor in question was standing on the platform near her invention, waiting for the appropriate moment to begin. She waved to the two brothers who waved back. Her father was busy adding the finishing touches on one of the two pedestals that were stationed at each end of the platform. The base of the pedestal was a metal grid, underneath which glowed a blue light. The top part was the same width as the bottom and was separated by a metal bar on the side so that it left enough space for one person to stand. Attached to both pedestals was a series of cables that connected them to a piece of machinery between the two. This piece was a rectangular shape and possessed a number of switches among other things.

The talk among the people gathered died down as Lucca raised her hands. "Welcome, everyone, to the science fair! We are grateful to see so many of you and we will make certain that you do not regret coming here! My name is Lucca and this is my father Taban!" She indicated her father, a large burly man, who was still working on their device. He waved to the crowd while continuing to work on their device. "For many years now, scientists have been studying a strange new energy that comes from the very core of our world. Much about it still remains a mystery, yet we have begun to better understand how it works. The energy in question, known as IERE, or Internal and External Regenerative Energy, is gathered through by conductors and experimented on until available for public use. Even if the time when this energy is may be used for the public if not yet come, we will be able to demonstrate today just what it can do."

Marle looked at Crono and Kyle with a questioning look. They responded with one that said, 'Don't ask me, I know about as much as you do on this subject'. No one else in the audience seemed to express anything that indicated that they fully understood what Lucca was presenting to them. She continued explaining about this strange energy. "Just what makes this energy so special? For one, when conventional energy is used, it produces waste which is of no use. But like the name suggests, IERE is a regenerative energy. The waste it produces is assimilated into itself and turned into new energy which can then be used again, continuing its cycle." Several people muttered in interest among themselves. "It is also capable of doing many other things, most of which are yet to be discovered, but behold what we have discovered already!"

One of the pedestals exploded in a show of crackling blue light. The crowd gasped at the display, at which Lucca had a triumphant grin on her face. "This is only a mere fraction of what this energy is capable of. To demonstrate it further I will require a volunteer." She scanned through the people assembled, spotting Crono with his hand raised unsurely. "Ah, we have a soul brave enough to volunteer. This is Crono and he had no prior knowledge of this experiment and what it entails."

Kyle clapped his brother on the back as he made his way to the platform. When he stepped up, Lucca muttered thanks to him for coming. "Now Crono, if you please, would you place your hand here?" she pointed to the crackling energy in the pedestal. The young man looked at his friend, then the energy and his friend again, giving her a look as if he thought she were crazy. "Oh come on now." She then grabbed his arm and pushed his hand into the energy.

He almost yelped in surprise as he pulled his hand out. To his surprise though, he realized that he felt no pain from what had been inflicted to him. He looked at Lucca again and she nodded for him to go ahead. He slowly pushed his hand forward into the blue energy. Like before, he felt no pain, only a light tingling sensation throughout his arm. The crowd broke into applause. "Is it normal for your friend to be like this?" Marle asked Kyle.

"Well, I'll admit that I was a little surprised by her sticking Crono's arm into that blue stuff, but not much," came the answer.

Crono made a move to get off the stage, but he stayed back at Lucca's request. "As you've all witnessed, IERE can exist harmoniously with other materials, neither consuming nor damaging them." She looked to her father who by now had just finished. He gave her a thumb up to show that all was good. The young inventor then instructed her friend to stand on the pedestal to the left.

"I don't suppose it would hurt to tell me what this thing does beforehand?" Crono asked nervously.

"I suppose it might not, but why take chances?" she replied with a smile on her face. He noticed people in the crowd looking at him in anticipation as he stood on the pedestal. He could hear the sounds of switches followed by that of the equipment coming to life. "Apart from living harmoniously with other materials, IERE can also incorporate and carry them. Observe as teleportation is made real."

Crono glanced at his inventor friend who gave him a reassuring look back. Though still a little nervous, he took comfort in the fact that she would let nothing happen to him. Suddenly he was surrounded by the strange blue energy. Again it did not cause him to feel anything beyond a slight tingling sensation in his body. His vision then turned to a dark blue, before disappearing entirely. This was followed by the sensation of being pulled down a river. It stopped a short moment after and his eyes opened to the crowd. They watched in silence for a second, before breaking out in thunderous applause.

Crono looked around himself and was shocked to see that he was now standing on the other pedestal. "Nice job Lucca!" She grinned self assuredly and gave him and the crowd a short bow. Crono made his way back to Kyle and Marle, both of whom congratulated him for his bravery in testing out the invention.

"It's official, that was really cool!" Kyle exclaimed.

"How did it feel?" Marle asked excitedly.

"Well, it felt like… a tingly sensation to be honest. Almost warm and fuzzy," he answered.

The applause died down after a moment. Marle still exited by the idea of the machine and what it could do raised her hand to get Lucca's attention. "That looked fun! Can I try it too?"

"It seems as if we have someone else who would like to try. Just come right up and we'll get you started." Despite her warm appearance, Lucca couldn't help shake a sneaking suspicion that she had about Marle. Regardless of such wariness, Lucca simply helped prepare the machine as Marle stepped on the pedestal. She flicked a series of switches on the structure Marle stood, while her father did the same with the empty one. Taban then went to the mid section and flicked a few more switches and pressed a couple of buttons, at which began the noise of the machinery. "Everything's fine, conditions are green Lucca," he said as he looked over the meters and gauges.

"Then flip the switch when you're ready," she shouted over the noise.

Taban flipped a large switch on the panel in front of him and the machine suddenly quieted down. The same blue energy as before then surrounded the young woman, but like Crono, it didn't harm her in any way. But then her pendant lifted off her chest and began to float in front of her. The energy around her then began to turn black, then white, then a combination of the three colors so far. "Lucca, the machine's gone haywire! The power level's spinning out of control!" Taban shouted.

"What the hell's happening?" Kyle shouted.

The energy was now making a deafening noise at the same time as a strong wind started to blow through the square. The people watching began panic a little and many excused themselves as quickly as they could. Marle's pendant was now glowing with a bright light. He face wide with fear, she tore her pendant from her neck and threw it to the ground in front of the platform.

"Kill the power Taban! Kill the power!" Lucca shouted frantically.

Taban snapped out of his shock and worked desperately on the console. "I cut off the power! There shouldn't be anything! It must be self-sustaining!" he yelled as he futilely tried to stop the machine.

Crono looked at him with horror in his eyes. "What do you mean? Why can't you shut if off? What's going on?"

"I don't know!" Lucca shouted. "Marle, jump off now!"

Marle's face was frozen in horror and fright. Somehow, she was unable to move anything but her mouth to cry out. "Crono, I can't move, please help me!" Tears were running down her face. It seemed as if she was trying to shout, but couldn't manage anything more than a weak voice. All of a sudden, a distortion in the air appeared around Marle. It was of the same color as the energy. Marle then began to warp in the same manner as Crono had. His body going ahead of his mind, Crono found himself to have run towards her. Kyle, Lucca and Taban watched as he dove at the young woman in an effort to save her.

Then faster than it appeared… it was gone.

Crono hit the ground behind the pedestal hard, scratching his hands, elbows and knees in the process. The remaining people, with the exception of Crono, Kyle, Taban and Lucca all filed out, not sure what had happened. The four people left could feel a heavy weight on their shoulders, as only they truly realized the true gravity of the situation. The two brothers looked at Lucca and her father whose faces had gone pale. "What happened?" Crono asked. "Where did she go?"

"I-I don't know," Lucca admitted, tears running down her face. "This shouldn't have happened."

Kyle walked up to her and wrapped an arm around her in an attempt to comfort his friend. "It's okay Lucca. No, don't blame yourself. You couldn't have known that would happen. Everything will be fine. You said the energy doesn't consume or damage, right?"

Lucca's face light up as she realized that not all was lost. "That's right! It can't have killed her. The energy can only do what's it's made to do. And since it wade modified for use in teleportation… then that must mean she's in a different place!" she exclaimed. She took note of the fact that Kyle had an arm wrapped around her, at which he let go of her, a slight blush on his cheeks.

"But what could have caused it to act like that?" Taban wondered.

They were all deep in thought when Crono's attention was caught by the pendant lying in front of the platform. "Wait a second! Her pendant was glowing a weird color. Couldn't it have been responsible for this?"

Lucca scoffed. "That's impossible. There's no way a thing that small could have cause something this big."

"I have to agree with Crono on this one," Taban said. "I too noticed it glowing strangely."

"Me too," Kyle added.

"What about Marle? Will she be ok? Is there someway we can bring her back?" Taban and Lucca only looked dejectedly at the ground. "Is there any way we can bring her back?" her repeated.

"I'm sorry, but we can't," Lucca answered. "We don't know where she's gone, if they have the energy back there, or how to locate her. There are too many unknown in this. And without the platform or the energy source, which I doubt she'll have, she won't be able to return."

The four of them slumped their shoulders in despair. They knew there no way to bring her back. She was probably all alone where ever she was. She wouldn't be able to come back to them. Suddenly Crono jumped up as an idea came to him. "Wait! She might now be able to come back, but can we go to her?"

"What?" Lucca asked confused by his question.

"If one of us went through the portal, whatever it was, would we end up in the same place as her?"

"You don't mean to?" Taban asked surprised.

Crono walked over to the pendant and picked it up. "Yes I do. Someone has to go after her before it's too late." Lucca looked at him in disbelief. "Please Lucca, if there's only one chance to save her, then I'll take it."

"You're too brave for your own good. Just promise you'll make it back."

"I will. I promise you that," Crono replied with determination engraved on his face. He tied the pendant around his neck, letting it drop into his shirt. He was about to step into the machine when his brother interrupted him. He grasped his hand tightly and patted him on the back.

"Be brave brother."

"I will."

"We'll come after you as soon as possible." The two then separated and Kyle stood off as Crono stepped onto the pedestal.

Lucca and Taban began the process of starting up the machine again. "Nothing's happening yet," Taban shouted over the noise of the machine.

"Just keep it going," she replied. For the briefest moment, it seemed almost as if it would stay as such, but then the same energy that had surrounded Marle, now flowed around Crono.

"It's working! There's a jump in the power level!"

"Then it really was the pendant," Lucca exclaimed. They all watched as the pendant began to emit a blinding light. The same distortion as before opened up around Crono. He felt himself being pulled in as his vision of the world faded away. The last thing he saw was Kyle and Lucca waving at him. Then he could see no more. "Good luck Crono," he barely heard Lucca say. "May God be with you," and then his mind went blank.

* * *

Kyle watched in silence as his brother was pulled into the strange portal. He turned to Lucca and Taban after it finally disappeared and Crono along with it. Another minute of silence followed. "Let's get the machine back to the lab," Lucca said. "I need to get to work on finding a way to follow them where they've gone."

Kyle nodded at this. "Let's get to it then."

* * *

Thank you to anyone who took the time to read this. If you wouldn't mind leavig a review it would be greatly appreciated (even if it's only contructive critisism). I keep wanting to put something here, but I seem to be unable to remember. Next chapter: Crono wanders around in a strange new place and at the same time (or is it?) Kyle and Lucca try to find a way to go after him.


	4. A Strange New Place

Disclaimer: I couldn't think of any creative way to say this. I don't own Chrono Trigger.

* * *

Chrono Trigger: The Untold Story

By: Patattack

**A Strange New Place**

Crono could just begin to feel consciousness returning to him. He was aware of the feeling of lying on his stomach on the ground. Awareness was followed by sight as his eyes opened. Taking note of the fact that he was face down, he rolled over and sat up. He saw that he was no longer in Leene Square, but rather in afforested mountain area. He was in a small clearing surrounded by a multitude of trees, short and tall, with green leaves, pines and needles. He stood up slowly, shaking off the dizziness he felt. After coming to his senses, he focused his mind again on finding Marle. He cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled out her name.

"Marle!"

His voice resonated across the woods, startling the odd bird or two. No sounds came in response to his call, apart from the already present noise of the wind, flora and fauna. He tried again and again he failed to produce any results beyond the first attempt. Realizing that his current method wasn't working, he tried looking for any signs he could see. He checked within the clearing that he had landed and found a section of grass that had been flattened in the shape of a shoe. He looked near his first clue and found a second one. He followed the footprints for a short while, though walking through the thicket made it harder to find the next ones.

Regardless on such, he continued to follow the trail that he hoped was Marle's. Eventually he got out of the brush and into the clear, his arms scratched in a few places and his tunic with a few minor tears. Ahead of him there was a beaten down path that went on for a ways before ending at a cliff with what appeared to be the remains of a short bridge. Grateful for having finished with that particular step, Crono pulled out a few twigs stuck in his hair, but stopped when his ears caught a sound from behind him. He turned around and saw a pair of yellow almost malicious eyes from the bushes.

A bestial growl resounded from the area that the eyes were located. Crono took a few steps back as a creature stepped out from the brush. It looked almost like a wolf, except that it was shorter and wider than most wolves. Its muzzle was smaller, it had dark gray fur covering the whole body and the rest of its characteristics were those of a wolf. The animal passed a red tongue over its lips as it stared at Crono with a hungry look. Unfortunately for him, another similar creature stepped out into his sight, followed by a third and fourth, all growling and licking their lips in anticipation of their prospective meal.

The young man knew that without a weapon with him, he'd have little to no chance of surviving a skirmish with these wolf like beings. Decided that the only chance he'd have for the moment would be to run, he spun on himself and was running away in a flash. The beasts were briefly caught off guard by their prey's speed, but shook it off and ran after him. Crono was moving at breakneck speed, pushing himself to his limits in an effort to get away from his pursuers. Despite the fact that most of the bridge was gone, there was still enough of it that stuck out from either side of the cliff for him to have a better chance of making it across.

Just as he stepped on the edge of the wooden planks assembled, he pushed as hard as possible with his legs and bounded through the air. The wind blew through his clothing as he prepared himself for the landing on the other side. He landed on his feet and let himself drop in a roll to avoid hurting himself, before quickly getting up and continuing to run. The hunters paid no more attention to the cliff than beyond the fact that they needed to jump to get across. The bridge space was only wide enough for one of them to go across at a time. The first, second and third made it to the other side easily enough. But as the fourth was coiled and about to jump, the wood underneath him cracked, upsetting its balance and causing it to go awry. As it sailed through the air, one could see that it wouldn't succeed, a fact that was proven when the creature landed on the other side and was impaled on a broken piece of wood. Its weight snapped the piece of wood and caused it to fall down to a river below, the impact alone was enough to end its life.

Regardless of the fact that they were now one member short, the animals continued their pursuit with the same intensity as before. Crono looked around for some form of weapon that would allow him to fight back against these creatures, or at least scare them away. Instead of such, he saw a slope with a good downward angle. Its surface was relatively bare and had a thin coating of mud that would make it slippery. Before it angled down, there lay a medium sized, hollowed out half log. There were no branches sticking out, the inside was clean and it was pointed in the direction of the slope. Not taking the time to ask why it was there, Crono's mind came up with an idea that would likely have most people saying that it was crazy and insane, except for his brother who would probably have said the opposite. But in his haste to put some distance between himself and his pursuers, he followed through with his idea anyway.

He aimed towards the hollow half log and when he got within a short distance of it, he jumped and landed on the object in question. His momentum caused it to go forward and down the slope. He slid down even faster than he had been running. Crono had one leg in front and was putting more of his weight on the other behind, his arms held in a manner to keep himself balanced. Even if this was to get away from the hunters, he couldn't help but feel thrilled by the sensation he got from doing it.

His pursuer in the front ran down the slope before it could stop itself. It momentum, combined with the downward angle caused the creature to stumble and roll down. The others stopped at the top of the slant, not wanting to go further in the same manner as their companion. Crono's improvised sled eventually slowed down and came to a stop when the ground evened out. The closest pursuer landed a distance from its prey, flat on its stomach with its legs sprawled out. Despite the tumble, it got to its feet in a short time.

Seeing the leader in an acceptable condition, the two animals behind began to make their way down, but a little slower. Crono stood still as he watched the first one approach. He had both legs evened out on either extreme of the log and was at the ready, watching for any signs from his enemy. They came soon. It gave a vicious snarl and growled. Its hair rose on the back and it tensed its body like a coiled spring. The creature then bared its teeth and dashed at him. Crono stood at the ready, even as the creature leapt through the air, its mouth open wide, intending to sink its teeth into his jugular and tear out his throat. Just then, Crono shifted his weight so that there was more pressure on the back of the log.

As simple and innocuous as this action may have seemed, it produced the desired results. The beast was met with the end of the log as the change in balance caused it to lift up. It caught the animal just underneath the chin, hitting it hard in the throat, the force against the wood causing its neck to bend back further than it was meant to. An audible crack resounded as a result of the impact, announcing the broken neck.

The other creatures stopped in their tracks, unsure about continuing the pursuit of their intended prey. They plainly had not anticipated that the hunt would be this difficult, or that the meal could fight back with such intensity. Crono flipped the log with his foot and took hold of it in his hands. They looked at each other, then their dead comrade and the young man. They turned back and went up the hill when Crono yelled loudly and raised the log at them in a threatening manner. When they were gone and out of sight, he permitted himself to let go of his wooden weapon. Despite the fact that the animal lying before him had been involved in an attempt to kill and eat him, he couldn't help but feel sorry for having caused its death.

"I'm sorry this had to happen," Crono muttered. "If you could hear me, then I'd ask you to forgive me." He knelt down and did a sign of the cross just above the creature. He whispered a short prayer and got to his feet again. Having dealt with the problem on his pursuers, Crono could now look around more freely. Unfortunately for him, the chase had led him to lose the trail he'd previously been following. Apart from the fact that he was stranded in an unknown land and was lost.

He sat down on a stump and remained calm as he gathered his thoughts. 'Okay. I'm lost on a mountain in a foreign place, there's no trace of Marle around and I don't know how to get back anyway. So my best bet would be to find some trace of civilization where the people might help. But which way will get out of this forest and off the mountain?'

Crono looked at his surroundings to for clues that could point out where to go. He could see the sun had begun to set in the west. His attention was then caught by a little stream that trickled nearby. 'South is in that direction and if I follow the stream, it'll lead me out of this place since the water has to finish away from the mountain.' He got up from his seat and began following the stream's flow at a good paced walk. He went downward a fair bit, occasionally walking across more level sections. After some time, the stream went down to the river below. The water fell down a slope with an angle that would permit him to climb down with relative ease. He stepped across the brook and followed it down to the banks below. He continued his march on the rocky shore, the river's flow dimming slightly as he went along.

Eventually, Crono's feet, along with encouragement from his stomach, decided that he needed to stop and take a break. He found a boulder, sat down on it and dug into his pouch. As far as food went, he only had some candy remaining from what Marle had bought him and a few pieces of dried fruit. He only ate a little of his rations, knowing that he'd need more until he found an alternate source of food. He rubbed his feet that were sore from all the walking and running he'd been doing. 'Wonder how Lucca and Kyle are doing,' he thought to himself.

* * *

As to how the two people in question were doing, both were in Lucca's house. Along with her father and friend, the young inventor was working on the machine in an attempt to figure out a way to replicate the effects of the pendant. It had already been a day since Crono had gone through the strange portal in an attempt to rescue Marle. After having helped disassemble the contraption and lug the pieces back to Lucca's house, Kyle had returned to his mother for a short time. He'd told her the story behind what had happened at the fair and that he needed to stay and help Lucca find a solution. She'd looked at him with a certain amount of uncertainty, but nevertheless, she still let him go.

"Kyle, hand me that screwdriver and the set of screws beside it," the young woman pointed to the items she needed. He picked up the items desired and placed them in her outstretched hand. "Now I need you to take the metal plate there, put it here and tighten the matching bolts." The three of them kept busy, working diligently like ants. After much work and time, they had the machine set up again, except that this time it was a little different, a fact that Kyle had noticed.

"What's with this thing?" he asked. "Why is it different than before?"

"It's been modified so that I can properly run some tests and analysis to find out a solution to the problem."

"So how's that gonna work?"

Lucca entered into an explanation of how the modifications were necessary to measure the energy levels in regard to the portal's opening and other such things, not all of which he made sense to him, but he understood enough to get a general idea of what they would be doing next. Lucca directed Taban and Kyle to do certain things while she observed the results of their actions. They flicked switches on both pods and she played around with the centerpiece. The familiar bluish energy flared to life in the two ends for a while before it was shut off. "I see… if we just did this, than we'd be able to…" Lucca mumbled to herself and took notes and drew on a pad of paper.

"Umm, Lucca? Would you mind sharing your discovery with us? Or at least telling us something about it?" Kyle asked.

"Oh, yes. To put it like this, I think I've finally figured out a way to build a device from the machine that should theoretically recreate the portal caused by the pendant."

"Good, we're making progress then."

"Yeah. But unfortunately, this'll take time to build."

"Then let's get it started." Lucca nodded at her friend and father and they continued their work in the hopes of being able to rejoin Crono and Marle.

* * *

Marle sighed in frustration. She failed to convince the men accompanying her that she was not the woman they were looking for. They wore heavy armor that looked durable enough to need a strong hit to be pierced. They wore no helmets, showing their disheveled hair and faces that could use a wash.

After having gone through the portal caused by the invention and her pendant, she'd awoken in a forested area. She wandered westward for a while and than headed south down the mountain. Eventually, she'd come across the group of men she was currently accompanied by. As soon as she had come within their sight, all of them had fallen to one knee before her. This was followed by them asking her a series of questions that left her more annoyed than anything else.

"Who kidnapped you?"

"Was it the mystics?"

"Did they cause you any harm?"

"How are you feeling?"

Despite her protests, they eventually brought her down the mountain to a village not too far away. She couldn't shake a feeling of familiarity as they walked her through this place. The buildings themselves seemed relatively new, but their structure was an older style. Men and women walking through the streets made way as the group passed by. Children wearing tattered rags for clothing ran around playing with each other. A few dogs and the odd cat scurried nearby, most skinny enough to count their ribs. The people seemed generally in a good mood, considering their apparent poverty. "Where is this place?" Marle asked.

The head of the party looked at her with surprised on his face. "You don't recognize it?"

"No. Why should I?"

"Well, this is your kingdom after all."

"What? I've never been here before! This isn't my kingdom!"

"The fact that your last name be Guardia makes this land yours."

"What the blazes are you talking about? Where are we?"

"We are in your home, Guardia Kingdom."

* * *

By the time that Crono had gotten out of the forest and off the mountain, nighttime had already begun to assert itself. He was now by fields and grasslands, the occasional creature grazing a ways from him. Finally, he got close enough to see a farmhouse not too far from him. Preferring to sleep in a building rather than outside, he decided to take his chances. When he got to it, he raised his fist and knocked against the door. Voices muttered on the other side.

"_Who could that be, knocking at this time of night?_"

The door opened to reveal a man in his late twenties, early thirties. He wore farmer's clothing and had brown hair. Behind him, a woman was sitting in a rocking chair with an infant in her arms. Two children, a boy and a girl, were looking at the entrance to see who had come knocking. "Who're ye ta come around at this time o night?" he asked in a gruff voice.

"I'm sorry sir, I was just tired and needed a place for the night."

"Well in that case, come on in. We can spare some room and food for ye."

"Thank you," Crono said as the man beckoned him inside. He was then sat at a table and a bowl of warm stew from laid out before him along with a piece of bread. The gestures of kindness displayed by this family surprised Crono. For back in his own town, though there were exceptions, few people would welcome strangers into their house at first glance.

"So, where'd do ya be from stranger? We don't get many outsiders in these parts too often." Crono though for a moment what to tell him. It was likely that if he revealed the entire circumstances behind the events leading up to his arrival in these lands that the farmer would think him crazy. So instead of such, he told him only that he'd gotten lost in the mountains up north and had wandered down here in his search for someone. The man and woman had and wide eyes at this. "You were in the mountains?" he asked.

"Umm yes," Crono replied, not quite comfortable with the man's reaction. "I don't suppose you've seen who I've been looking for. Young woman, orange tinted hair, blue eyes and about this high," he held his hand up to show him.

The man simply shook his head, the surprise on his face now gone. "Fraid not lad. Haven't seen a soul looks like who ya be looking for." Crono felt disappointment at first, then realized that she could have been attacked by the same animals he had.

'No, I can't think like that,' he thought to himself. 'I will find her and bring her back.' Crono then let out a yawn behind his hand, though the man took notice of it.

"Ya look tired lad. Why don't ya rest up until the morning?" He almost seemed to leap at the opportunity to try convincing Crono to sleep.

Not entirely comfortable with his host's behavior, he nevertheless was tired and decided to follow the suggestion. The man indicated grabbed a small blanket and apologized to Crono while telling him he needed to sleep on the floor. He simply thanked him and lay down on the blanket. As slumber was calling to him, he could just briefly discern that the farmer was whispering something to his wife. She nodded and went out the house carrying a lantern, though this was lost on Crono as he was already snoring lightly, unaware of what would result from those actions.

* * *

I hope that you felt it was worth your time. If you don't mind, review are greatly appreciated. Next chapter: Crono gets arrested for something he didn't commit. What will happen? (This idea comes from Gibson18 who was gracious enough to permit me to use it)


	5. False Accusations

Disclaimer: I own Chrono Trigger. NOT!

First of all, I would like to thank Gibson 18 for letting me borrow his idea of having Crono arrested and taken to the castle.

Secondly, to anyone who reads my fic, I apologize for taking this long to update. I found places in my other three fics that seemed good to take a break so I would have more time for this one. But even after that, I was still moving slowly and kept getting distracted by videos on the internet and other such stuff, so I don't really have a good excuse. Anyway, I hope that this makes up for the wait.

* * *

Chrono Trigger: The Untold Story

By: Patattack

**False Accusations**

Marle sighed angrily as the band of men half dragged/half walked her through a forest. Despite her protests, they still refused to believe that she was who she said she was. She couldn't help but notice how things in this strange land were so familiar to those back home. Not only did the village they'd gone through earlier evoke a sense of familiarity in her, but even the forest they were in now did the same. They walked on a path that seemed very much like the one that lead through to Guardia Castle. This prompted Marle to ask them a question. "Tell me, exactly where are we going?"

"We are headed towards Guardia Castle," the leader of the band answered.

"What! This is absurd! I know my own kingdom and this is not it! So you can't possibly be taking me to Guardia Castle!"

The men exchanged looks amongst themselves, silently asking each other if she was alright. "Perhaps she is suffering from some sort of illness," one of the soldiers whispered to the one next to him.

"I am not suffering from anything whatsoever!" Marle responded to the comment she'd overheard. "Except from a need to get out of here!" They all looked at each other, uncertain about her behaviour, but did nothing more and continued on the way to what they said was Guardia Castle.

* * *

Lucca and Kyle, along with Taban, were still working almost non-stop on a device that would duplicate the effects of Marle's pendant and permit them to rejoin Crono and Marle, wherever they had gone. Mostly Kyle had simply been doing whatever his friend had been telling him to do, while she herself was implicated in the more 'hands on' part of the job. At one point, Kyle had to duck when a piece of metal flew in his direction from the area Lucca was working at. "What was that all about?" he asked, uncertain if any more were coming his way.

"Sorry," she replied with an apologetic smile. "I think I just dropped something on the ground without looking at where it landed and it catapulted that piece towards you."

"Why don't the both of you take a break for a bit?" Taban suggested. "It'd do you good to go out and relax for a minute or so."

"But, we need to finish this as soon as we can," Lucca protested.

"Come on Lucca. You and Kyle just go out and get some air. It'll probably clear your thoughts and you'll be able to work even better when you get back. No, don't argue, just go."

"You heard the man," Kyle spoke up.

"All right then." Lucca and her friend set down the equipment around them and oriented their way across the maze that was the room they were working in and managed to make their way out through the door. They were greeted to the sight of the sun high in the sky, if in the beginning stages of setting in the west. The house itself was in a lightly forested area and a bit isolated from the other dwellings, but not so much as to make it seem like a hermitage.

"It's nice out here, isn't it?" Kyle mused as the lightest breeze came by, blowing ever so gently across their faces.

Lucca nodded absentmindedly at this. She then chose to take off her helmet and held it in her arm, allowing her hair to sway a little, something that didn't go unnoticed by Kyle. The young man couldn't help but notice how good she looked. Despite what she wore, he could still distinguish her slim figure and the curves that outlined her body. From her gentle face as she looked out into the sky, to her smooth and silky legs bared from her shorts to her boots. The inventor herself eventually noticed her red headed friend staring at her and cleared her throat. "Yeeees?" she said in a bit of a playful tone.

Kyle immediately snapped to attention and his eyes widened almost to the size of large plates as he realized that she's seen him looking at her in such a manner. He proceeded to blush furiously, his face changing into several shades of red before settling into one almost redder than his hair. "Umm… I… uhh… that is… uhh… what I mean is… umm…" he stammered profusely while attempting to explain himself and failing miserably.

Lucca almost doubled over while laughing at his behaviour. She straightened herself and wiped the tears out of her eyes. "You are just… so much fun to tease," she managed to say.

"Sorry, I couldn't help but notice how much you…. I mean, you're just… wow."

"Ahh, ever the articulate one, aren't you?" Though she had a slightly mocking tone, Lucca was trying as best she could to hide a blush tinting her cheeks, though it wasn't quite as extreme as Kyle's. They remained liked this a short moment, until Lucca broke the silence. "You know, this makes me think of the first time I met you and Crono."

"You mean that time?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, that time. When I was eight, you and Crono were running around in the middle of Leene Square, chasing each other with water filled balloons. I was wandering about, minding my own business, when one of those just happened to miss its target and blew up on my face, completely drenching me in the process."

"Don't tell me you're still upset about that," Kyle protested. "We did apologize, plus we helped you get dry, went out near the river and made a fire to keep you warm and all that."

"Yes, that you did. And don't worry, I'm not still upset about that now. Even if I didn't take it so well back then."

Kyle coughed into his hand. "That's putting it mildly. As I recall, you repaid our actions by pushing both of us into the river. And I'll have you know that the water wasn't exactly warm either."

"You should have been more careful in the first place. But then again, if not for all that, we might not be where we all are today."

"I guess it wasn't too much to put with, all things considering."

"Yeah, I'd say so. Well, we should be getting back inside now."

"Sure thing. After you Miss Luca," Kyle said with a wide grin on his face while bowing slightly and indicating the house. She shook her head in disbelief and smacked him lightly on the shoulder as they went back inside.

* * *

After walking through the forest for some time, Marle and her 'escort' finally arrived at a large structure that they assured her was Guardia Castle. She simply scoffed and looked at them doubtfully, even if she couldn't help but feel a certain familiarity as she looked it over. They went through the large wooden doors and by a pair of guards who dropped to one knee in a salute. The castle was built similarly to that of the royal family in her home country, banners, paintings and other such things hung from the walls and ceiling, many of which were familiar. To her surprise, she even saw Guardia's royal crest. The hallways, staircases and rooms she passes through were practically the same as those in the royal castle. "Are you well your majesty?" one of the guards asked upon seeing the look of confusion and worry of her face.

"I'm fine," she replied absentmindedly while continuing to examine her surroundings. "Where exactly are we going?"

"To the throne room to see the king. He will be most happy to see you again."

This only served to deepen Marle's confusion. "What? Why would the king be so happy to see me?"

The leader of the party of guards had a look of confusion on his face, as if he couldn't understand why she didn't know the answer to such. "Because his wife, the queen, has returned to him of course!" Marle blushed at this and gave a small nervous laugh.

She muttered a few choice words under her breath, somewhere along the lines of, "Impossible. This isn't even my home, how could I be queen here? And married? That's just plain crazy."

* * *

Elsewhere inside the castle, a man of small and diminutive stature was walking through the hallways by himself. He was a bit less than four feet tall, had a crooked nose, beady green eyes, long stark white hair, a beard of the same length as well as a bushy moustache. He wore a large brown hat which bulged so that it seemed almost as if someone had inflated the interior. Other than such, he wore a robe of the same colour dragged behind him and a vest overtop of a blue long sleeved shirt. In one of his slightly wrinkled and bony hands, he held a smooth wooden cane with a golden tip which held a sizeable ruby. Despite the fact that he felt like laughing in glee, the elderly man refrained from doing so and kept on a serious face to avoid arousing suspicion. He then happened to notice a maid dressed in the livery of the royal family who was running in the opposite direction. What caught his attention was the fact that she had an exited smile on her face. "What cause for joy might there be in such dire times as these?" he asked as she was going by.

The maid stopped at his question and gave him a respectful bow. "Have you not hear, Chancellor?" she replied. He shook his head to indicate that in fact, he didn't know what she was referring to. "Her majesty Queen Leene has been found and has returned to the castle!" she said excitedly.

The Chancellor's face briefly twitched in anger and annoyance as he took in this latest news. Fortunately for him, he was able to change his features fast enough so that the maid saw none of it and instead he gave off a portrait of relief and happiness. "This is most reassuring to hear indeed. The queen has been brought to the throne room to see the king I assume?"

"That she has, Chancellor."

"Very well then. I shall go see her for myself." The maid bowed lightly again and ran past him. Confusion and uncertainty clouded his mind as he made his way to the throne room. He couldn't help but wonder how all this was possible. He went on like this until reaching his destination. Upon arrival, he was greeted to the sight of the nobles standing on either side of the throne room, with the king, a woman who everyone seemed to think was the queen and a handful of soldiers standing in the middle. The woman's white linens were stained and dirtied, indicating the conditions she'd gone through, but they did not hide the fact that she seemed so much like Queen Leene, thus causing everyone to think her to be that person. Just before the chancellor had arrived at the premises, the king had rushed from the throne with a joyful smile on his face upon seeing the newest arrival, down along the red carpet and embraced her with tears running down his cheeks. And yet, she leaned back, apparently rendered uncomfortable by the situation she was in.

The king looked in her face and his joy was swept aside to be replaced with mostly concern. He beckoned the leader of the soldiers who'd found her to step up. "Please, tell me what has happened to her? Why does she not seem to recognize me or her home?"

"I'm not entirely certain of this, sire," the soldier replied. "We found her majesty alone in the mountains to the east in her current state. She approached our group and we lead her back here. When we passed through the village near the foot of the mountain, the forest before the castle, and even up until now, she appeared not to recognize any of the surroundings."

The chancellor had a relieved expression and grinned to himself as he watched the scene unfold from the corner in which he was located. "How is this possible?" the king asked. "Have the mystic's preformed some manner of vile enchantment on her?"

"No!" Marle said adamantly.

"Your highness, if I may attempt to explain," the chancellor spoke up as he walked up to the king, bowing to him and Marle as he did so. "Majesty," he addressed Marle. "It is good to see you once again."

"Ah, chancellor," the king said. "Please, do tell us your opinion on the matter of my wife's behaviour."

"Of course. With what I've just observed and deducted, it is possible that the queen is subject to some form of mental illness that has rendered her into the state she currently is in."

"How dare you suggest such a horrid idea?" he said rather loudly enough so that a few of the people in the room cringed.

"Please, your majesty," the chancellor said while remaining calm. "Think of how long she has been missing and in captivity of the mystics. Imagine what she could have seen and been subjugated to during that period of time. Surely this must have had an impact on the queen's mental health and caused her to be as she is now."

The king rubbed his chin as he was deep in thought. "If she is ill like you're suggesting, do you believe that she might return to normal?"

Marle only looked at the chancellor and king as if she couldn't believe what they were saying. "If she does nothing to place much strain on her, then I am certain that she will recover in a very short time."

"Very good. Please pardon me for my reaction, chancellor."

"All is well your majesty," he replied with a smile that hid his true intentions underneath.

"I am sorry for not taking this into consideration earlier," the king said to Marle while gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "I had not given enough thought to all that you have been through during your absence. Please, return to your rooms and rest until you feel better." He then turned to the leader of the guards. "I thank you and your men for doing me such a momentous favour."

"We are pleased to have done it, your majesty," he replied.

"You will be rewarded for this. But I only request that you escort the queen to her rooms beforehand."

"It shall be done."

* * *

Marle remained silent as the captain led her away from the throne room and towards her quarters. In her mind she replayed the events from her meeting with Crono, to Lucca's presentation, until the present moment. Little of it made much sense to her, above all else, why everything around her gave her such a sense of familiarity, despite the fact that it was impossible that she had ever been here before. Eventually she was brought to her rooms where the captain left in the care of four maids who then proceeded to take care of her. They filled a basin with warm water, stripped her of her grimy clothes and washed her spotless while one of them brushed her hair so that it was smooth and silky.

Afterwards, the same women helped her into clothing much more suited for royalty. The dress was perfectly white and fell down in a most elegant manner. She wore a pair of elbow length white gloves, a pearl necklace and her hair was arranged into a perfect bun on the top of her head. Apart from such, she was also outfitted with a few more pieces of jewellery, one of the most notable being a golden ring on the fourth finger of her right hand with a substantial emerald in place.

Despite the fact that Marle's uneasiness about her surroundings had not quite been alleviated, just being washed and dressed like she was did make her feel much better. She thanked the maids for their work and they bowed their way out of the room at her request. Being alone gave her time to think more about her current predicament and how to remedy it. Then, almost as if she could feel the gentle tug of fate, her attention happened to be caught by one of the drawers from which most of the jewellery she wore had been taken from. Inside it, were more different kinds of jewels, as well as an ornate box sitting in the center. Out of curiosity, she picked it up and opened it. What she saw surprised her to the point that she almost dropped the entire thing.

Sitting on a small red cushion, was a blue jewel in a silver casing made exactly like her own. She reflexively reached to the spot where it usually hung, before remembering that she had abandoned it when Lucca's invention had begun to act crazy. "What can this mean?" she asked herself. Then as if to subconsciously answer her own question, Marle happened to look at one of the walls where there was special painting. It showed the king she'd just met standing beside someone who looked like a mirror image of herself. At the bottom were the words: "Wedding of King Guardia the XXl and Queen Leene." The shock Marle felt upon realizing that her appearance was identical to that of the distant Queen Leene was about as evident as a raging fire in the night.

* * *

In the meanwhile, Crono was still lying on the floor of the farmer's house, sleeping off his exhaustion from the journey down the mountain. For some reason, the farmer himself was sitting in a rocking chair at the other end of the room where Crono was lying down, watching his guest with baggy eyes. He forced himself to keep his eyes glued to the young man, liked he'd been doing practically since Crono had fallen asleep. He'd even shepherded his children into a different room and locked the door in order to prevent any harm from coming to them.

What pushed this man to take such actions was the fact that he was afraid of Crono. From their short conversation after letting him into his house, he had reasoned that the red headed youth was an assassin sent by the kingdom's enemy into their midst. Therefore, he watched over his guest, to make sure nothing happened until his wife came back with help. Fortunately for him, he didn't need to wait much longer, because he finally saw his wife leading a group of soldiers towards their home. He withheld a sigh a sigh of relief, for fear of alerting Crono, though it turned out there was no need, because Crono didn't even stir from his position even when the soldiers barged in.

"He's right there," the farmer told them while pointing to Crono.

The soldiers held their weapons pointed in his direction as they were approaching him. The leader tapped his shoulder with the flat of his sword, but this produced no significant results. He then proceeded to kick him lightly in the ribs with his the toe of his boot. "Wake up! Wake up demon filth!"

"Get lost Kyle," Crono half mumbled before turning over so that he had his back to them.

"What in blazes is he talking about?" the leader asked the farmer.

"I have no idea," came the reply.

He then tried a different method by grabbing Crono's shoulders and shaking him rather roughly while yelling at him to wake up. At this, Crono sat up, yawned widely and stretched out his arms and legs. He realized where he was, causing the events that had lead up to it to flash through his mind. Only after this did he finally take notice of the soldiers nearby. "Umm, hi. Can I help you with something?" he asked with confusion on his face.

"Finally he's woken up," one of the soldiers muttered.

The leader of their group cleared his throat and addressed Crono while keeping his sword pointed at him, something that he did not find particularly comforting. "You are under arrest on charges of attempting to assassinate the Queen of Guardia. Come with us and do not resist, or we will drag you all the way to the castle." The smile on his face revealed that he would have no qualms against doing such a thing.

Crono frowned at the accusation. One of the soldiers passed the farmer a pouch and from the sounds of it, it likely contained a decent amount of gold. He gave the farmer a piercing stare as he realized just what he'd done. The man leaned away from him a little a this, but regained a confident expression as Crono was lifted up, had his hands placed behind his back and outfitted with a pair of shackles. "This is impossible. I can't be part of an assassination plot against anyone," Crono said.

The soldier holding Crono's arms scoffed. "It will be decided if you are innocent or guilty when we see the queen. If you are guilty, then you will given a suitable punishment for it." They all laughed as Crono was being lead outside. Despite the anger he felt at his treatment, reason managed to seep into him and he was able to refrain from lashing out at his captors. They put him on the bench of a wagon pulled by a pair of horses and closed shackles around his feet which held him down. The soldiers sat down around him with their weapons still trained on him and one of them signalled for the driver to move forward. The wagon jolted as the horses pulled it away from the farmhouse and down the beaten road.

After a short while, they were passing through a respectably sized town. The majority of the buildings seemed like old wooden shacks, not quite on the point of collapsing, but not in peak condition either. There were no cobblestones on the road, only dirt and rocks and had been flattened by years of people, animals and carts passing over. Many people were standing outside, looking at Crono with disdain on their faces. The soldiers seemed to enjoy parading Crono through the villagers' cries and insults.

One thing that stuck to his mind overall was how much everything looked similar to him, if a bit older and worse off. 'Why does it feel like I've been here before?' Crono asked himself. This confused him, seeing as he knew he had never been in this place previously. They continued onward like this, the feeling of familiarity only amplified when the soldiers pointed out the castle located a distance away in the forest.

* * *

"Just a little bit more and we'll be finished with this thing," Lucca said as she was working. By now, they had most of a device put together that they had dubbed 'the key'. Looked like an orchestra conductor's baton, albeit larger and with a rounded tip. It lay in a holder and still needed a few pieces before it would be complete. Taban and Kyle watched and she worked on the insides for some time. "Kyle, pass me the last piece of covering will you?" The young man gave Lucca a small rounded piece of greyish metal which she then proceeded to clamp it onto the key. "Ok, it's done now."

"Finally," Kyle said. "Took us long enough. So, how sure are we that this thing's gonna work?"

"We'll just have to run one final test before we can confirm that with enough certainty," Taban explained.

Lucca took the key out of the holder and hooked it up to one of the pods of the invention. Kyle and Taban and Kyle started up the machine while the young inventor played with the console controlling it. The key flashed blue, then white, then black and then settled into a combination of all three colors, before returning to normal when the machine was turned off. "Well then, what's the final verdict?" Kyle inquired.

"Since the level of IERE reached the exact same level and intensity as when the rip opened, that means that…" Kyle simply looked at his friend with a blank expression and she continued with her long explanation. When she was finished, she happened to notice his dumbfounded look and chose to simplify thing for him. "Let me just put it this way, everything's ready to go."

"Woo hoo!" Kyle cried out. "You are one smart genius, you know that Lucca?"

"Of course I am," she replied with a smile.

"Now we just need to get a few more things before we're ready to go."

"We?" Lucca said with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course, we," Kyle said in mock offensiveness. "You'll need someone to protect you and besides, two heads are better than one. Apart from that, there's just no way I'm letting you go chasing after Crono and Marle by yourself."

"All right then, I suppose you can come along. But only if you behave," she said in a playful tone.

"Of course. You'll see, I'll be the perfect gentleman." Taban chuckled to himself as he watched his daughter and her friend bantering while they prepared for their up and coming journey into the unknown.

* * *

Back with Crono, the young man in question and his entourage finally came to a stop before the large door leading into the castle. The soldiers kept their weapons at the ready. "Don't get any ideas about escape," one of them said as he went to free his feet. He placed a small key into a lock and Crono felt relieved to be free of that pressure. He was then made to get off the then marched towards the castle.

The large wooden doors opened wide and the captors and prisoner walked to go inside. Maids, servants and other sorts of attendants looked at him as if he were some form of wild animal that needed to be put down. Despite the fact that Crono was normally a calm person, his patience was wearing thin and he felt even more tempted to strike his captors.

These plans he put aside upon seeing the numerable guard who were inside along with the other people. They were armed with swords, spears, bows and arrows, along with a multitude of weapons and most of the, if not all, were eyeing Crono with suspicious looks. He attempted to look a bit more subdued as he was being lead up a staircase and into a hallway. They then came into a room where most of the people gathered appeared to nobility or some sort of high station. Gossip rose among them as Crono was being led through.

"_Is this the rascal who kidnapped the queen?_"

"_The very one._"

"_He seems rather young to be an assassin._"

"_Young or not, anyone stupid enough to try what he has will suffer the punishment._"

"_I wonder in what manner he will be executed._"

Crono felt fear racing through him when he heard the last comment. Execution? What had he possibly done to deserve such a thing? He was unable to answer his own question, not understanding the circumstances behind his arrest. At this point, his mind was able to come up with only one thing. "_Get out!_"

Following his own advice, Crono slammed his shoulder into the guard on his right and immediately spun around, introducing his knee to the stomach of the one of the left. Before anyone had time to react to this, he sprinted in the opposite direction he'd previously been going and left the people behind momentarily stunned. A brief moment later, and everyone was shouting that the assassin was on the loose in the castle. Unfortunately for Crono, this alerted the guards stationed at the entrance, so they were ready. Just as he reached the top of the stairs, he jerked his head to the side, allowing for an arrow to narrowly miss him and hit the wall instead. Realizing that this path was no longer available, he immediately spun around and ran back the way he'd come.

He came upon the same group of soldiers that had brought him to the castle in the first place. He almost hesitated, and then charged them with reckless abandon. The suddenness of this move caught them by surprise and allowed him to run through unhampered. Except one of the men at the far back managed to bring about his sword, but thinking quickly, Crono somehow managed to duck into a roll, avoiding the swing and in the process, got his hands in front of himself. Now able to use his hands to a certain degree, Crono sprung up from his roll and slammed his shoulder into the soldier's stomach, taking his breath away and knocking him to the ground.

Returning to his previous speed, Crono ran away from the pursuers behind him, through the room with the nobles who gawked as he went by and reached a dining area. He saw a pair of guards at the other end of the room who moved towards him when he entered. Again thinking quickly, Crono jumped on one of the tables and kept running in the same direction. As he did so, he kicked a wooden bowl which sailed through the air and smacked one of the guards square in the middle of his face. When he got close enough to the remaining guard, Crono leapt off the table and kicked him before landing on the floor, knocking him out like the other.

As he was running, people cried out that he was going to kill the king and queen, but he was too focussed and kept moving towards a doorway leading somewhere else. He burst through the barely open door and came into the throne room, the king and queen gasping in surprise at his unexpected entry. A guard who happened to be close to the chosen entryway drew his sword and swung the weapon at him. Reacting instinctively, Crono put up his hands, the chain connecting the shackles stopping the blow before it connected. He followed up by lashing out with his foot and kicking the man in the wrist, causing him to let go of the weapon in question. He then grabbed the blade in his hands and swung it about so that the hilt smacked its owner on the side of the head and dropped him to the floor. At seeing Crono knock out the guard like that, the others edged towards him with cautiousness, but also determination. His odds increased even further when more guards emerged from the entrance where he had come in. He flipped the sword he held in his hands so that he held it by the handle and prepared himself.

"Stop!"

Everyone in the throne room turned to face the direction the voice had come from and were generally surprise to see that it had been the queen herself who had shouted it. The soldiers moved out of her way as she got up from her seat and walked towards Crono. He dropped the sword he held in his hands and was about to try to explain that he was innocent, but stopped when he saw her smile at him. She also winked at him in an oddly mischievous and familiar way. Even if intrigued and puzzled by this, he nevertheless was grateful that she had stopped the guards from attacking him and didn't question her behaviour.

"This man did not kidnap or try to kill me. As a matter of fact, he even rescued me when I was being held by the mystics." The queen went on to explain how Crono had freed her from a mystics' encampment in the mountains and helped her escape safely by drawing their attention away from her. Though he knew that he had done no such thing, Crono simply kept his mouth shut, knowing that what she was saying would likely keep the guards and soldiers from using their weapons on him. They bowed their heads in shame as they realized that they had wrongfully accused him. One of the men came up to Crono and took a key from his belt which he used to free Crono of his shackles.

"Would you tell us your name, good sir?" the king asked.

"Crono," he replied simply.

"Well Crono, you have done our kingdom a great service. I am most grateful for what you have done and I apologize for how you have been treated." The king said with sincerity and gratitude.

A short elderly man stepped up from the king's right side. "Your majesty, have you not considered that the story the queen has said of this young man is a result of her illness? This rascal has fought back and disabled one of the guards right here."

"Chancellor, we have agreed that the queen is recovering, have we not? And if this young man was truly an assassin, I am certain that he would not have taken the time to spare the guard's life."

"Yes, your majesty, but-"

"I will hear no more of this," the king responded with a tone that brooked no argument. Though the chancellor kept quiet and departed, one could see from the look of anger on his face that he was not satisfied. Crono, in the meanwhile, was perfectly fine, even more so when the king offered him a room and food. The only thing that put him off, what the way the queen was looking at him, but he chose to set it aside for later.

* * *

Thank you for anyone who took the time to read this, and if you wouldn't mind, reviews would be greatly appreciated.

Next chapter: Kyle and Lucca go chasing after Crono and eventually meet up with him again.


	6. Meetings and Disappearing

Disclaimer: Never have I ever owned Chrono Trigger.

* * *

Chrono Trigger: The Untold Story

By: Patattack

**Meetings and Disappearing**

Back to Kyle and Lucca, the two teenagers were currently making their way towards the far end of Leene Square, where the science exhibit had previously been. After the completion of the Gate Key, Kyle had gone back to his house, and packed some things he'd deemed necessary. Such as, some dry food, water, a few other odds and ends, as well as the wooden spear he'd carved himself, which he carried in its sheath on his back. Taking the time to say explain to his mother a little of what he was going to do, followed by saying goodbye, he then departed to join up with Lucca again. Given that the fair was in its dying stages, they came across fewer people than they would have at the peak of the celebrations. "Ready for whatever we come across?" Kyle asked his inventor friend.

"Of course I am," she replied. "And what about you? Did you make sure to pack everything you needed?"

"Yeah, I've got what I need. Between the two of us, we have everything we might possibly need for any kind of situation. Including meeting up with less than friendly people."

"And you're that confident that you'll be able to beat them back with that little toy stick of yours?" she shot back, referring to his spear.

"Hey, I put a fair bit of work in this so called 'toy stick'. And besides, I might not even need to use it. After all, you just need to show them your… meaner side, and they'll go running back to their mothers." This comment earned Kyle a smack on the back of back of his head. Despite such, he responded by giving Lucca a widespread grin. "You see, that's what I'm talking about."

"Pff, whatever," she spoke up, rolling her eyes at the red headed boy's irrepressible behavior. "Your roguish nature is beyond anyone's ability to change," she said in an exasperated tone of voice. "But then again, it's all a part of what makes you… you. Along with the better things I suppose."

"Aww, thanks Lucca. I'll have you know that that was very touching. It really moved me. Well, I mean, even though I'm already moving."

"You're most welcome." Both of them kept on walking towards their intended destination, all the while maintaining a level of conversation similar to what they'd been keeping so far. After walking at the same pace for some time, they eventually arrived at the far end of the square. It was currently devoid of any people, other than themselves, and was practically empty. "Well, this is it."

"Indeed it is," Kyle replied, having taken on a more serious expression, faced with what lay ahead. Lucca took the Gate Key in her hand when it began to shimmer lightly. A small round circle about half a foot from one end to the other then appeared in the exact same spot as Crono and Marle had disappeared. It was like a discoloration that hung limply in the air, shining with the same color as emitted by IERE. "Alright then, take it away Lucca."

"Just be ready for whatever might happen on the other side."

"Will do." Lucca then waved the Key in front of the disturbance, at which it began to grow. It did so until it reached the point where it was more than wide enough for both of them to step through. Neither of them feeling the need for words at this particular moment, both teenagers stepped into the portal. Like it had done to the others before them, their sight began to face, turning into a dark blue haze, and then disappearing entirely as they were taken away.

* * *

Despite still being in the strange foreign kingdom, Crono was much more at ease then he'd previously been. The fact that the people no longer thought of him as a dangerous criminal who needed to be executed was a major contributor in his change of heart. Also, after being given some of the best food he had ever eaten to fill his stomach, he'd been lead to one of the guest rooms. There he'd been allowed to wash and have his travel stained clothes cleaned, and he'd been given a soft bed to sleep on. As he slept, he dreamed of the events that had happened since his awakening on the morning of the fair. The queen's face flitted through his mind, and he subconscious wondered why it was that she seemed so familiar and where he might have seen her before.

His dream then changed so that he was simply standing in the forest by himself. A vision of Marle seemingly appeared out of nowhere and started to walk towards him. She spoke to him, but her voice was so soft that he couldn't make out what it was she was saying. When she got close enough, he could just barely hear her words. "Crono, sir, wake up." He then found himself pulled out of his reverie and back to the bed where he'd been sleeping. A woman was standing next to him while trying to wake him up. His eyes took a moment before focusing and allowing for him to see her clearly. The woman in question wore livery in the same color as he'd seen on other servants in the castle, as well as an emblem sewn on it.

"What're you doing here? Crono asked.

"Her majesty the queen has requested for me to come fetch you," she answered with a bow.

"The queen wants to see me?" The red headed boy was clearly confused by this.

"Yes, she wishes for you to come to her chambers. When you are ready, I shall lead you to them."

"Oooookaaaaay," he said slowly. "I don't suppose you'd happen to know why she wants to meet me."

The maid shrugged her shoulders in response. "I don't know as to why she asked such a thing. But she has, and perhaps it would be best if we did not keep her waiting for too long."

"Well, alright then." Crono hopped out of the bed, and given that he'd only taken off his belt, tunic and boots to sleep, it took him little time to get ready. "Lead the way." The maid walked him out of the room and into the hall. It was still dark out, so that the only lights inside were torches placed at equal intervals on the walls, along with the odd candles that cast a flickering light. Banners, paintings and tapestries were hung about on the walls as well. Suits of armor lined the hallways, the flickering lights dancing off of them and almost making them seem alive, if one were to let their imagination get too far ahead.

Both of them walked in silence, neither one making any initiative at conversation. They passed through the throne room which was empty safe for a few servants with cleaning duties. Crono followed her up a staircase that lead to a different wing of the castle. They left the stairs and came into another hallway which happened to be better lit than most of those they'd gone through already. The maid stopped before a certain doorway decorated in such a manner that it was fairly evident that the rooms were those of the queen. "Her majesty awaits you inside," she told him as she stood off to the side.

He gave her a brief nod, then knocked on the door. "Come in," the queen's voice spoke up.

Crono gently pushed the door open and walked into a well furbished sitting room. From where he stood, he was able to see the queen in the bedroom, along with the two maids accompanying her. "You called for me, your majesty?" he said hesitantly.

"Yes, that I did," she replied with a smile on her face. "Would you leave us alone for a moment?" she asked the maids. They bowed deeply to her, then walked out of the chambers, closing the door behind them. "Crono, please, come closer." The youth in question gulped nervously at this and looked at the closed door. He stepped forward, uncertainty filling him as did so. When he came within arm length of her, she burst out in a fit of laughter.

Confusion lined his features as a result of this reaction. "Umm, your majesty? May I inquire as to what you find amusing?"

She smiled at him in response, then reached to the back of her head and pulled out a hairpin, allowing for a cascade of orange to fall down loosely. "Could you hold this?" she asked, passing him the hairpin. Though he undoubtedly thought it strange, Crono took the object and held onto it without asking why. The queen then pulled her hair together so that it formed a ponytail. Crono's mind suddenly clicked when he saw this, and he realized why the queen looked so familiar to him.

"Is it really you, Marle?" he asked in astonishment.

She giggled again, excited that he had recognized her. "Yes! It's me! Marle! I knew you'd come Crono!"

The young man smiled in return, relieved at seeing her safe and in good health. They then embraced each other in a tight hug, conveying the joy they felt for being reunited with each other. "Marle, it's good to see you again," Crono said when they separated. "I'm sorry I couldn't recognize you earlier."

She giggled lightly. "That's okay. I could hardly recognize myself with all this stuff," she indicated the clothes she was wearing.

"So how did you come to be in this situation?"

Marle then launched herself into an explanation as to how her current predicament had arisen. She told him about when she had awoken after being taken through the portal, her meeting up with the soldiers on the mountain and how they seemed to know her. Then it went on to them taking her along with them through the village and forest, all the way to the castle they were in, as well as how no one would believe her when she said that she wasn't the queen and that she didn't live here. She then explained that when the maids had dressed her in her garments, that she looked very similar to the queen in the portrait which she pointed out to him. After that came the part when she chose to play along with the charade of her being the queen of this land and whatever else came with it. "Since then, I've just been waiting for an opportunity to get away from this place and get back home."

"With what you're wearing now, it's no surprise that they mistook you for the queen."

"So what about you? What's your end of the story?"

"Well, like you, it started with me waking up in the mountains." He went on to give her a resume of what he'd gone through in these lands. From his encounter on the mountains with the predators that had pursued him until abandoning the chase, to his extended walk through the wilderness, the farmer who had sold him out in exchange for gold, his arrest and the way the soldiers had treated him, and his arrival to the castle. "As happy as I am to be free, I still don't know why they arrested me in the first place. Even back home you wouldn't see something like this."

"Well, I think I may be able to shed some light on the situation. Apparently, the queen of this land has been gone missing, kidnapped by some enemies. She was snatched sometime when she was around the cathedral in the west, but supposedly she was seen somewhere around the mountains. People have been looking for her even since, scouring the mountainside for any trace of her. So when you told the farmer that you came from there, he must have thought you were the kidnapper, and brought the guards down on you because of it."

"I suppose that makes sense. Not that it makes it any easier to accept," Crono said. "Is there something wrong?" he asked when he saw tears flowing from her eyes.

She suddenly threw herself into his arms. "Crono…" she muttered his name. He stood there awkwardly, holding her. "You went through so much trouble just for me. You even came close to dying… You're the only person's who's ever been this kind to me. Even when it seemed to be at its worst, I still believed you'd come to save me. And here you are. I don't know how I'll ever repay you."

"That's okay, Marle. I couldn't have abandoned you like that. And besides, I'm just happy to see that you're safe."

"Thank you. This really means a lot to me."

"It's my pleasure. Now come on, let's get out of here. Lucca and Kyle will be joining us sometime and we'll be able to go back home." The both turned about to get out, but a cold and clammy sensation suddenly gripped both of them. Marle froze in her tracks, seemingly unable to move. "Marle, what's going on?"

She tried to answer, but no sound came from her mouth. He could only guess what she was trying to say by reading her lips. "_Crono, I'm cold. Something's wrong, please help._"

To add insult to injury, she then began to fade, to the point where she became transparent and Crono was able to see straight through her. "What the hell's going on?" he asked frantically. He attempted to pull the young woman away, but when he reached for her, his hands simply passed through, as if she was a ghost. Desperately he tried to grab her, but he was met with failure each time. Marle faded away until she was no longer with him.

Crono breathed deeply in an effort to calm himself. Nothing whatsoever came to mind as a possible explanation for what had happened. Then came the realization that the people of the castle would have little chance of believing him if he told them what had happened. Not particularly wanting to be arrested again on false charges, Crono ran out of the room, past the maids, down the stairs, down the halls out the gates. He was soon running away from the castle with Marle in the back of his mind, and survival upfront.

* * *

"Well, took us long enough to get out of that freakish forest," Kyle commented as he brushed some twigs and leaves off of himself. "Good thing we had tinder to light a torch. Would've been a nightmare trying to navigate through that place with only the moonlight."

Both of them were now at the foot of the mountain which they had landed on after coming out if the portal. After taking the time to acknowledge their surroundings, break off a branch to use as a makeshift torch, and light it up with some tinder that Lucca carried in her bag, they went off. Kyle had barely found a footstep he could recognize as his brother's, given that it was faded. He'd discussed with Lucca, and they'd decided that Crono would likely have found a way off the mountain, which they then did themselves. After marching their way through the woods, across a small brook, following a beaten down dirt path, they'd found a way off the mountain.

Lucca cleared her throat in response to her friend's words. "You mean, good thing I had tinder."

"Yeah sure, however you want to say it. So what's the next plan of action, miss high and mighty Lucca?" he said with a touch of sarcasm entering his voice.

"Well, for one, you can refrain from calling me miss high and mighty." The expression on her face showed that the name did not appear to derange her that much. "Apart from that, we should try to find a place to stay the night, preferably an inn of sorts. And at the same time we could probably inquire about Crono's whereabouts in this place."

"Sound like a plan," Kyle responded. "I think I can see lights in the distance, must be a town or something." They both began to resume their walk at that moment. "Shouldn't be too hard asking around for Crono, given that we just need to tell people he looks just like me."

"Except for the fact that you have a smaller nose, and that you're shorter than him."

"You just had to point that out, didn't you?" Lucca grinned at this. "Well it's not like you're in any position to talk about the subject of height. Shorty," he added under his breath. They continued heading down the dirt road, though they generally remained quieter than when they were standing still, and by extension, cutting back on the banter.

* * *

In the meanwhile, Crono had just gotten out of the forest surrounding the castle from which he'd just left. Having run through it the whole way, he went on at a slightly more leisurely pace. Not knowing where else to go for the moment, he chose to go back towards the village he'd been paraded through when accompanied by the soldiers. From how he'd been treated in the castle, it was only natural for him to assume that his name had been cleared with the local populace. And because of it, he felt that he could likely find an inn with a room where he could stay the night.

Although, he also knew that with the queen disappearing when she was alone in her rooms and accompanied only by him no less, combined with the fact that the maids had seen him rushing out of the room in a hurry, this could make him a wanted fugitive once again. Although, he figured that he would have sometime before the alarm was raised and people started to cry out for his blood. After a lengthy walk, Crono finally made it to the edge of the village. Beyond himself, few people were present on the dimly lit streets, and fortunately, those few people paid little attention to him, something which he found reassuring. He wandered around the village, looking for a place to spend the night, when he came across a soldier who pointed him to large enough building with a sign that displayed the name of the inn.

He walked into the tavern area and noticed a reasonable crowd sitting down for the time that it was. He spotted the innkeeper sitting on a stool behind a counter and made his way to him. The owner was an older man, his dark brown hair had more than a few streaks of gray, though he was missing a patch in the middle. The innkeeper had a scroll of paper which he was reading through, when Crono made his presence known. "Oh! Hello there, sir," he said as he put down the scroll. "What can I do for you?"

Crono found the man's cheery attitude rather settling, so he smiled a little. "I need a room for the night. Do you have any available?"

"We've got a good number at hand," he replied. "Will that be all?"

"Yes, thank you."

The man then told him the price he required for the room, at which Crono dug into his pouch. He took out a couple of coins, counted them, and placed the correct amount in front of the innkeeper. "Strange coins you got here, sir," he commented as he examined one. "They look almost like the ones made from round here."

"That is strange," Crono said in return, uncertain about what this latest development could possibly cause. As it would happen, nothing of great importance resulted from the similarity of currency. The inn's owner bit on one of the coins, and satisfied that it was indeed gold, he shrugged it off and told Crono where he might find the room he'd just paid for. He made his way to the indicated room, closed the door behind him, and then flopped down on the bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

* * *

Having walked along the dirt road for some time, passing by fields and farmhouses, Kyle and Lucca had reached the village they'd seen in the distance, after having left the forested mountain behind them. Upon arrival, they chose to ask the people around if anyone had seen Crono. They noticed a soldier by himself and went towards him with the intention of inquiring about Crono's whereabouts. "Excuse me," Lucca spoke up.

The soldier turned around to face them. At the sight of Lucca, he simply raised an eyebrow. But when he took Kyle into account, his face displayed a shocked expression. "What manner of sorcery is this?" he asked as he drew a baton at his side.

Kyle frowned in confusion at this. "Ummm, sorcery? Last I checked, I couldn't do any of that," he said hesitantly, edging one hand towards the wooden spear on his back.

Apparently the soldier did not believe his words, a fact that was accentuated when he swung his baton towards Kyle. The youth in question quickly took his spear out of its sheath and spun it around, batting aside the blow with the head of the weapon. He followed up by smacking the man on the wrist with the other end, therefore forcing him to drop his baton, then pushing him back with a kick to the stomach. The soldier drew his sword, but Lucca chose that moment to interrupt them. "Wait!" she cried out. This was enough to cause the soldier to stop where he was. Kyle stood in a defensive position, holding his spear with both hands. "Care to explain your actions first?"

"This man must have done some form of witchcraft. I saw him not long ago and pointed him in the direction of an inn. Only magic could allow him to be in two places at once."

Understanding dawned in the two teenagers as they heard his words. "Sir," Lucca began. "I can assure you that my friend does not have any magical talents."

"The person you saw earlier was my brother," Kyle filled in. "We look just the same, but he's a year older than me. The difference is the nose and also that he's like an inch taller." The soldier had a thoughtful expression on his face as he processed this particular bit of information. When he came to the conclusion that they were telling the truth, he sheathed his sword and apologized to Kyle. "That's okay, just as long as we understand each other." The red head boy used the point of his spear to toss the soldier his baton which he caught in his hand and reattached to his belt. "Just one question, what inn did you point out to my brother?" The man told him the name of the inn in question, to which Kyle sheathed his wooden spear, thanked him and left to go with Lucca. "Well, that sure cut back on the length of our search."

"I dare say your methods were a bit crude," the inventor noted.

"I don't know about you, but having some guy whack me with a baton isn't exactly my idea of fun. And besides, it's not like I hurt him badly in any way. I just disarmed him, that's all."

"I suppose you're right about that. Nice moves by the way. You did well."

"Thanks Lucca. Sparring with Crono is pretty good practice for this kind of thing."

The two of them soon arrived at the inn which the soldier had mentioned. They went directly to the counter behind which the innkeeper was sitting. He had a confused look on his face as he took Kyle into account. But unlike the soldier they'd encountered, this man reacted in a more peaceful way. "That's strange, didn't ya go up to yer room a while ago?"

"That would be my brother," Kyle said. "He came through these ends recently and we were just looking around for him."

"Aye, that explains a lot. So, somethin I can do for the pair of ye?"

"Would you happen to have a room with two beds?" Lucca asked politely.

The innkeeper scratched the bald spot on his head as he thought for a moment. "Umm, fraid not, miss. Those ones are all taken up. The both of you could just share a bed you know."

"I think I'll just sleep on the floor," Kyle said to Lucca, the two of them blushing as a result of the suggestion. "Do you have spare blankets or something like that?" he asked the inn's owner.

"Sure we do. But I jus figured that you two looked like a couple and all."

"Noooooo, we are not," Lucca responded slowly. "We're just friends."

"What she said."

"Well, if ya say so." When Kyle paid for the room, the man had approximately the same reaction to his money as he had had with Crono's. Lucca developed a pensive expression on her face when she saw one of his coins. He then told one of the maids to go and fetch some blankets for their room so that Kyle would have something to sleep on.

After being settled down and having placed their stuff aside, Lucca was lying on the bed while thinking about the events at the fair, and the similarities she'd taken the time to notice about the village, the surroundings and other things. "It's weird," she muttered. "I'm sure that I've seen Marle somewhere before, but I just can't put my finger on it. And this place looks too familiar for it to be a coincidence. What do you think about it, Kyle?" No answer came from the boy in question. "Kyle?" she repeated. Again he didn't answer, but then Lucca took notice of the fact that he was already asleep on his makeshift bed and was snoring away. "Ah well, goodnight."

* * *

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this. Reviews are appreciated, but the only thing I must ask is that you be nice. And I don't accept anonymous reviews because I've had a bad experience with those.


	7. Monstrous Disguises

Disclaimer: Guess what? I don't own Chrono Trigger!

* * *

Chrono Trigger: The Untold Story

By: Patattack

**Monstrous Disguises**

Once again, within the confines of Guardia Castle, a dim mood hung about the place, casting some of the people there in a grim sort of mood. In one of the rooms, there was an assembly gathered to speak about the cause of the condition. The room itself was fairly big, with a large table in the center, where quite a few people were gathered. The way it was arranged spoke of important a place where important decisions had been made and vital topics had been discussed, which was true at the moment.

At the head of the table, stood the King of Guardia, wearing his usual royal attire and golden crown. Despite feeling grim and grief stricken, he still managed to keep a stately expression. Also seated, was the leader of the band of soldiers who'd brought Marle to the castle in the first place and the captain of the guard, who was a man with similar dress and armor, except that he had marks identifying his rank. Apart from them, commanders and officials of the Guardian army sat at the same table, along with members of the castle's guard and other soldiers, along with one of the queen's maids who stood nearby.

The maid in question finished retelling her story of how she'd seen Crono run by her after he'd been in the Queen's rooms. "Thank you," the Chancellor spoke, dismissing the maid with a wave of his hand. "Now you see, gentlemen, that red haired youth was nothing more than an untrustworthy rascal. The queen had obviously not recovered from her illness when she concocted that story of him having rescued her from her captors. And since he was so foolishly believed to be innocent, he has taken the opportunity to kidnap her majesty once again, before our very eyes."

"Excuse me, Chancellor," the captain of the guards spoke. "As we have just been told, the young man was alone when he ran away from the Queen's rooms. Therefore, that raises the question as to how he could possibly be responsible for her majesty disappearing again."

"You fool! He is obviously some sort of mystic who possesses knowledge of the magical arts and used is to get away with his heinous crime, even under the watch of the castle's people. He must be hunted down! He must be found and executed before he has a chance to strike again! Before he decides to finish off the queen, or come back and try to kill the king. I shall remain with his majesty and guard to ensure his security while the rest of the men scour the mountain for the criminal."

"If I may point out," one of the king's guards said. "As all of us who have seen him can tell this youth, Crono, is no mystic. He has neither the look of one, nor did he conduct himself like so. And I do believe that only the generals in the mystic army are capable of performing magic."

"I agree," the king added. "The boy is not a mystic and bears no malice within him. And while I do believe that we should ask him what happened, we will cause him no more harm than we have done already."

"You are all fools if you believe such a thing!" the Chancellor said angrily. "You will let your queen die because you persist in believing the youth is innocent! Lord Magus will crush you pitiful kingdom!" Much to the others' surprise, as he spoke, the Chancellor's eyes changed into a blood red color, and his voice became deeper, demonic and filled with hatred.

The King and all the others assembled looked at the old man, shocked at the sudden change in his demeanor. "Lord Magus? What has come over you? Why do you name our enemy with such respect?"

"I... I…" the chancellor stuttered nervously in his previous voice. He started to back away from the men who had their hands on their weapons and his back met a windowpane, telling him he was trapped with only one way out. "I simply…" The old man looked outside the window for a split second and turned his attention back to the armed men arranged in a semi circle between him and the king.

"You are a mystic!" the king realized. "That's why you were trying so hard to put the blame on the boy. You're the one who kidnapped my wife!"

The other remained silent, awaiting a response. The little man looked down at the floor, and the silence was interrupted by a truly maniacal laughter coming from him. He looked up at the king, his red eyes blazing with hate and evil intentions. "I had hoped that you wouldn't find out about me this soon. Your death would have been rather welcome by our cause."

"Where have you taken the queen this time?" the king asked, anger obvious in his voice.

"You stupid fool! That little girl is not who you think she is. The real queen is still in our grasp, ever since we have taken away! Before I leave, know that your previous wife will die a most painful death."

"Get him!" the king ordered.

Unfortunately for him, the uncovered mystic leapt through the window and started to fall down outside. Those guards armed with crossbows broke apart the other windows to aim their weapons at the evil creature. "Shoot him down!" the guard's captain commanded.

A few crossbow bolts grazed the monster's skin as it fell. The guards stepped back to allow for the others to take a shot. The fleeing mystic landed on the ground, grunting at the impact of his fall, but nevertheless remained relatively unscathed. The tip of one of the bolts sunk into his shoulder, causing him to cringe in pain, but he simply bore it and ran away as fast as he could. He distanced himself from the castle fast enough so that the guards could no longer see him after a short moment, much less shoot him. The guards turned back, their expressions telling the king of their lack of success in killing such a horrid fiend.

"No…" he muttered to himself. He slumped into his seat, grieving with the knowledge that the chances of seeing his wife and queen again seemed so utterly hopeless.

* * *

Crono had only now awoken from a night of sleeping. He sat with his legs over the edge of the bed, stretched out his arms and yawned. After putting his boots back on, the youth in question made his way back down to the inn's main room. Lacking any particular idea of what he was going to do, Crono simply chose to make his decision after having put some food in him. There were only a few people in the common room, apart from himself and the innkeeper, despite the advanced morning hour. "Good morning, sir," the balding inn's owner called out to him.

"Good morning," he replied courteously.

"Will ye be wanting some food? The kitchen's got some good grub at the ready."

Crono's stomach grumbled slightly in response. "Yes, thanks. That'd be appreciated."

The innkeeper motioned over one of the maids and instructed her to get food from the kitchen for Crono. "Oh, and while I'm thinking bout it… A girl with glasses and a lad looking just like ye came in last night. They said they knew ya and the lad was yer brother."

"Really?" Crono asked, mildly surprised at this.

"That's the truth of it. They took a room ere and… oh wait, that's em there." The innkeeper pointed to the staircase leading the upper level to Kyle and Lucca who were walking over.

"Kyle, Lucca!"

The two named people looked up upon hearing their names and saw Crono standing where he was. "Crono, there you are!" Kyle rushed to his brother and they gripped each other's hands firmly and gave a one armed embrace.

"Great to see you again, bro."

The siblings parted and Lucca came barreling in, gripping him in a tight hug. "Finally! Took long enough."

"Good to see you too," Crono said after Lucca let go.

"Is there a place we could talk in private?" Lucca asked the innkeeper.

"Sure. We've got a room aside where ye can eat and talk without bein disturbed. It ain't used right now, so I'll take ye to it." He spoke to another of the maids for a second, then led them away from the common room and a hallway until they reached a small empty dining room with a moderate collection of books stacked in a pair of shelves against the walls. "Here ye are." They were left along for a brief moment, until two maids came in, holding plates of eggs, meat, bread and milk.

Crono and Kyle pulled out some money from their pouches and passed it to the maids who closed the door behind them. "So, what happened from your end?" Crono asked.

"We spent a chunk of our time figuring out what happened after the incident," Lucca answered. "Brought the machine back to my place, reconfigured it, and after a while we found a way to join you in this place. The first part took almost two days, and it was close to six days before we went through the portal."

Crono was visibly confused by this. "How's that possible? It's only been a few days since I've arrived in this place."

"Crono," Kyle spoke up. "You and Marle have been gone for a least a week."

"What?"

"It's true," Lucca confirmed. "There's something strange going on here. I've been thinking about it for a while and I think I've figured out the answer."

"Well, what is it?"

"We've travelled back in time to 600 AD."

Crono remained silent for a moment. "Tell me you're joking."

"No, I'm sure of it," the inventor replied. "Haven't you noticed how everything around here looks so similar to back home? Think about it, the village, the castle, the people… even their coins look almost like ours."

Silence reigned in the room while they were in thought. Even for Kyle this was new, given that Lucca had only come up with her explanation at the moment. "Well… the idea does seem a tad unreal," he admitted. "However, it'd explain quite a few things. Crono, why don't you tell us your end of the story? That might help shed a little more light on the situation."

Crono then went into an explanation of what had happened from the moment he'd awaken on the mountain. From his being pursued by the strange creatures, to his trek all the way to the farmer's house. He spoke of how the farmer had turned him on false charges, the soldiers who'd come to arrest him and take him to the castle, and what had ensued when he reached it. Lucca's theory seemed a little more realistic as he remembered the castle and its similarity to the one back in his own country. He then came to the part when he'd been summoned to the queen's chambers, and that she'd revealed that she was actually Marle.

"What happened to her?" Lucca pressed on.

"Well, she told me that she'd been mistaken for the queen here and that the soldiers had taken her to the castle because of it."

"Okay, so what else?" Kyle asked. "Is she still in the castle or something?"

"Umm, not really." Lucca raised an eyebrow in question at this. "Well… after she explained to me what happened, we were kind of going to leave. But then, she… disappeared. She froze, started to fade, became transparent like a ghost, and then she was gone." Kyle had a piece of meat on his fork, about to put it in his mouth, except that he had stopped upon hearing Marle's fate.

"Okay," Kyle said slowly.

"Damn!" Lucca cursed under his breath. "This is really bad."

"Beyond the obvious?" Crono asked.

"Haven't either of you guessed who Marle really is yet?"

"Umm, no." Kyle answered.

"What do you mean? Isn't she just Marle?"

"Maybe that was just a name she made up, or maybe she has some connection to it. But, her real name is Nadia, princess of Guardia."

While Kyle was shocked at hearing this latest bit, Crono was even more. "You mean to say… I was with her all that time… with Nadia Guardia, the princess?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"Wait a sec," the younger brother spoke up. "Wasn't Queen Leene kidnapped in these times?" Lucca nodded in confirmation "So, if Marle, or Nadia, is a part of the royal family… and she was taken for the queen in this time… then Leene's still missing!"

"Right. During the war against Magus and the mystics, Queen Leene was kidnapped and taken away. Since Nadia was taken for her, like you said, the real queen's still held by the mystics. But, since Leene's Nadia's distant ancestor, if the mystics kill her off now, then she won't have been able to have any children."

"And that means, with the bloodline cut short, Marle won't exist anymore," Crono realized. "That must be why she disappeared!"

"Oh man," Kyle moaned. "What're we supposed to do now?"

"If Leene isn't dead yet, then we may have a chance to change the future!" Lucca said. "If we save the queen, then we'll save Marle too!"

"But how do we know where to look?" Crono asked. "She could be-"

"The cathedral!" Lucca exclaimed.

"You mean that old ruin out west?" Kyle wondered.

"We're in the past, remember? In these times it's still standing tall. And according to history, that's the place the queen was supposedly kidnapped! If we go and check it out, we could find a clue there!"

"Then let's get moving!" Crono said. The three youths quickly got up, zipped back through the inn, past the confused owner, and were out the door in no time.

* * *

Crono, Lucca and Kyle set a quick pace as they made their way towards the cathedral out west. Though the two siblings were fit enough to run most of the way, doing so would have caused Lucca to be left behind, therefore they limited their speed to match that of their friend. They jogged through the small village and out onto a beaten down dirt path. As if fate wanted to torment them, a light rain began to fall. But going further in their intended direction, it progressively got closer to being a veritable downpour.

"Well this stinks!" Kyle complained as they trudged down the path which they could see went into the forest. Already the three of them were rather wet, the rain already starting to soak into their clothes and muddy the ground underneath them.

"At least were getting close to the woods," Crono pointed out. "The way won't be as open, but it'll still be a bit dryer."

"Let's just keep moving for now," Lucca spoke. Despite the seemingly endless supply of water falling upon them, they simply continued on their way until they reached the inviting cover the trees offered. Having reached it, they went onward at a lesser pace than they'd started off with. For while the forest provided with some cover from the shower, they still had to slow down.

Forcing their way through the foliage as best they could, the three of them trekked through the woods for what seemed like hours upon hours, which in itself was not entirely true, even though they were at it for a considerable amount of time. At one point, Lucca said that she was too weary to continue for a moment, so they chose to simply sit down and rest for a while. "So, Lucca," Crono spoke up. "Did you figure out what caused Marle's pendant to set off that portal?"

"I'm afraid not," she answered. "We were a little more preoccupied with finding a way to come over here."

"And how did you do that without the pendant?"

"Thanks to this," she said, pulling out the key they'd used to go through the portal like Crono and Marle. "It's a little complicated to explain, but it basically creates a spike of IERE when used near a portal, like the pendant did, and causes it to expand until it reaches a point where someone can go through it. The difference is that the portal triggered by the key is more stable, whereas the one Marle's pendant set off forcibly pulled you in."

"Uh huh, I see," Crono nodded. "So, Kyle, how's mom been doing?"

"Well, she was understandably worried when I told her what happened," the younger brother answered. "But, surprisingly enough, she took the news rather well, all things considered." Silence reigned amongst them for a while, as they simply continued resting. "Hey, Crono," Kyle spoke up after some time had passed. "Do you ever wonder what dad was like?"

"Yeah, I've often asked myself that. I tried asking mom before, but she never said too much about him. She said he was a good guy and they met when they were young. I was six months old when he died and mom was three months pregnant with you at that time, so neither of us would really know anything beyond what she's revealed."

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry you guys never knew your father," Lucca said.

"That's okay," Kyle responded.

"So, think we should get going again?" Crono suggested. The other two nodded at this. They then got up and started moving.

* * *

The three youth continued walking through the forest until the time when it had just begun to get dark. They had stuck with marching amidst the trees, given that it was still raining and the path was too open for their taste. Finally, as the sun was beginning to set and darkness had started to settle, they reached a clearing with the cathedral they had set out for. It was an imposing and majestic building, with impressive stone walls and stained glass windows. The structure simply stood there by itself, alone with the exception of a cemetery a short distance from it.

"Finally, we found it!" Kyle exclaimed.

"Still, there's something… strange about this place," Crono commented.

"Well, what're we waiting for?" Lucca asked. "Let's go in fast and hope we can get dry why'll we're at it." The two boys heeded their friend's suggestion and ran towards the cathedral's entrance. When they got to it, Crono pulled back on the ring on the door and knocked loudly.

They waited for a brief moment, considering whether they might just go in regardless, when the door opened just enough for a nun to poke her head through. "Visitors!" she said. "Please, come in, won't have you waiting out in the rain."

Though they were surprised by the nun's hospitality, they were nevertheless grateful and stepped inside at her request. They came into the chapel, where there were rows upon rows of sleek wooden pews, with a podium at the end where a pastor could give his sermon, and an organ nearby on the wall behind it. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling, carrying many candles, with more light being cast from the torches stuck to the walls between the windows depicting scenes important to the church. The two boys had wandered around the cathedral's ruins in their own time, and Lucca had read a fair bit about it from books, so between the three of them, they knew its layabout fairly well. For Crono, the way the dim light seemed to dance around, casting eerie shadows, reminded him of the royal castle at night. "This place is looking creepy," Lucca whispered.

"No joke," Crono replied softly. "It's almost as bad as the castle."

"Now who did you just let into our humble abode?" a new voice called out. Whereas the nun who'd admitted them inside wore a simple black and white robe with a thin veil over her face, the one who stood out from the hallway at the right was dressed just differently enough to show that she was the superior of the cathedral's nuns.

"Just a trio of worn travelers. Surely we have room to keep them, for the night."

"But of course," the superior said. "You three look drenched and exhausted. Please, come with us. We have towels for you to dry yourselves and rooms for you to sleep."

"Thank you," Crono said politely.

"And then, maybe you can stay for dinner?"

"Oh no, you don't need to trouble yourselves," Lucca jumped in. "We just wanted to have a look around this place."

"Come now, we would love to have you stay to eat," the other nun agreed, a strange smile on her face.

"Thank you, but we'll be more than satisfied with a place to stay the night," Crono answered.

"If you insist," the superior said almost dejectedly. The two nuns lead them down the right hallway, towards the rooms which were used for travelers like them. "So, do tell, what might you three be doing around here at such a time?"

"Well, we heard that the queen was kidnapped when she was here," Kyle spoke up. "And we were kind of curious as to what happened."

"We don't know," the superior said bluntly.

"But you must know at least something," Lucca said, exasperated.

"All we can say is that she was taken from the library when we were in our dormitories. We were too far away to hear her."

"Then how can you say she was taken from there?" Crono asked.

"When the guards came, they searched everywhere and found signs of a struggle in the library. Say, are any of you from the castle?"

"No, we're just curious, that's all."

"Good. Are you two gentlemen related by any chance?"

"Yes, we're brothers," Kyle answered, unsure about the sudden change of subject.

Tough neither of them was truly convinced she was telling the entire truth, they let the subject drop anyway. The nuns continued past a staircase that lead to their dormitories and went further down the hallway to the rooms used for travelers like them. They stopped before a door and the lesser nun opened it. The room had a decently sized bed with a stack of towels on it, a small bookshelf, a grandfather clock in one corner and a desk in another, along with an oil lamp giving off a faint light. "You two may stay here," she said to Crono and Kyle. "Come miss, we'll show you where you can sleep."

"I'll be staying with them, thank you very much," the inventor replied.

"I'm sorry?" the superior said. "We simply cannot allow such a thing! You are not married to either of them and we will not permit for anything to happen outside of wedlock!"

"They are my friends," Lucca explained calmly and firmly. "I know both of them very well. I know that neither of them would dare do anything to me like what you are suggesting. Therefore, I will be staying in the same room, and that is final."

"But-"

"I believe she's made herself quite clear," Kyle pointed out.

"Thank you for your hospitality, but that will be enough," Crono added. The two nuns seemed about to protest further, but they simply grumbled slightly and walked away towards their dormitories. The three youth stepped inside the room and closed the door behind them. "It's official, there's something going on here."

"So, what's the plan then?" Lucca asked.

"We just wait until it's late enough so that we can be sure the nuns are asleep and won't be wandering around. That way, we can check out this place for clues without interruptions."

"Good idea. But I still can't shake off the feeling that there's something strange with all this."

"Probably just how weird the place looks," Kyle said. "And besides, what's the worst that could happen? It's not like the nuns are gonna turn into some sort of evil monsters and try to eat us."

* * *

Having dried themselves already, the three of them simply hung around in the room while waiting for the time to go by. To avoid being bored out of their minds by the wait, they each found their own ways to keep themselves occupied. Kyle took out the juggling balls from his pouch and amused himself by tossing them in the air in various patterns. Crono pulled out his small ivory flute and started to play a soft, gentle song. As for Lucca, she sat at the desk and took out some papers with designs for an invention, which she looked over, mumbling to herself and making notes.

Apart from that, they conversed amongst themselves about whatever came to mind, including the nuns' strange behavior. "They must know something about the queen's abduction," Lucca said. "I can't see why else they'd be so evasive."

"We'll be able to find out if they were lying or not when we go looking around," Crono pointed out. "If we discover the right clue in the wrong place, then we'll know for sure they're holding back."

"What do you suppose we'll find?" Kyle wondered.

"Signs of a struggle, something dropped, traces left behind, anything we can come across that we shouldn't." Crono looked at the grandfather clock and saw that its hands showed the time was now ten thirty at night. "Speaking of which, I think we've waited long enough. Let's get a move on." They put away all their things, Lucca picked up the oil lamp and they gently eased the door open, making sure that the corridor was clear before heading out.

Using the lamps light, along with that cast by the candles and torches, the three of them crept back through the hall from where they'd come. The storm outside, occasionally punctuated by bolts of lightning and rumbles of thunder, added to the cathedral's already dark and gloomy atmosphere. They walked until they reached the chapel and went on with the intention of checking out the library. Just as they were about to head down the hallway leading to it, Lucca stopped in her tracks. "Something wrong?" Kyle asked.

"No, I just think we should look around here to start," she answered.

Crono frowned in confusion. "Any reason in particular?"

"Not really. It's just a feeling."

The two brothers looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. "Whatever you say." They spread out through the chapel, examining the pews, walls, floors and as much of the surroundings as best they could. After a while, Crono quietly called over the other two. "I think I found something." They made their way to an indent in one of the walls where there were quite a few small candles stacked, some of them casting a dim light.

"What is it?" Lucca inquired.

"Pass me the lamp for a second." The inventor did just that, and Crono held it close to the wall, underneath the indent. Looking at the spot Crono indicated, they saw a bit of wax had fallen from the candles and onto the floor. Leaning closely enough, they could see that the candles appeared to have been put in their places hastily, as if they'd been knocked down. In addition, they could see a small piece of white material which was dangling underneath the candles.

"This is starting to look really convincing," Kyle muttered.

"There's more to it," Lucca said. She pointed to a pew which she'd momentarily placed her hand on. The top part was cracked a little, the slightest imprint of a shoe which could be seen. The lamp's light also showed an orange strand of hair dangling next to the fracture.

"Oookay," the younger brother said slowly. "Do we need any more proof?" Apparently, the wheels of fate turned in a way that suggested they were capable of hearing. An impressive lightning bolt, followed by a loud crash of thunder, caused the three of them to look up from their examinations. Doing so allowed for them to catch sight of a small object lying on the floor underneath a pew in another row.

Unanimously, they walked over to it and Crono reached down and picked it up. It turned out to be a hairpin, and not just any common hairpin. Crono could see that it was unquestionably similar to the one Marle had given him. He pulled out the pin from his pouch and held it next in his hand, with the one he'd just picked up. "Look at this. I think I just found the last piece of proof we need."

"A hairpin?" Kyle noted.

"Not just a hairpin!" Lucca said excitedly. "They've both got Guardia's royal crest! Now we know the nuns were lying!"

They turned around upon hearing someone clicking their tongue in a disapproving manner. Five of the cathedrals' nuns were standing in front of the podium. "My, my, you children have been very naughty!" the superior spoke with a mocking tone. "Snooping around past your bedtime! You deserve to be punished!"

"A pity you didn't just stay in bed like good little children," the voice of the nun who'd let them in was heard. "It would have made things so much easier… and less painful for you three."

"I am not liking the sound of this," Kyle said, removing the wooden spear from his back.

"What've you done with the queen?" Crono demanded. "Where are you keeping her?"

"Even if we told you, it wouldn't do you any good," another of the nuns spoke up. The five women started to step forward, edging towards Crono, Lucca and Kyle bit by bit. They began to change as they advanced, their bodies shifting in a very unsettling manner. Their hands grew bigger, and sprouted claws, the skin becoming yellow and scaly. They melted out of the robes they wore, revealing monstrous snakelike creatures, with thick greasy hair, malicious red eyes, vicious fangs and serpentine tongues.

"You're mystics!" Lucca cried out in realization.

"Yesss," one of them hissed. "We really did want you to join us for dinner. Or rather, join us as dinner."

Kyle gulped nervously. "Nuns turned to monsters who want to eat us… this sucks!"

"They look so young, and tasty!" another of the nuns, or rather, mystics, spoke. "Much better than the old hags we ate before."

"You… you killed the nuns!" Lucca noted.

"Yesss." By now, the monstrous women were snaking their way towards their intended victims.

"Run!" Crono shouted.

The three youths did just that. They ran away from the mystics who leapt to their pursuit, swiping their claws and snapping with their fangs, their wicked laughter resounding through the chapel. They ran for the door leading outside as fast as their legs could carry them, but before they could make it, Lucca was stopped in her tracks when one of the monsters managed to snatch her from behind. "I will enjoy playing with you, little girl" her captor said softly. Lucca screamed loudly and struggled against her grip, but to no avail.

The mystic opened its mouth… and cried out in pain as the lamp Crono had been carrying smashed into her face. Her cries were cut short when Kyle came charging in immediately after, stabbing with his spear, slamming the tip into her throat as hard as he could. Her hands let go of Lucca and clasped around her ruined throat as she fell to the floor, dying.

Crono extended his hand towards Lucca and helped her up, but they then noticed that the four remaining snake women had them surrounded. Kyle's spear now lay broken on the floor, having been yanked out of his hands, snapped in two and its pieces thrown away. "You will regret that, miserable humans!" one of the monsters said angrily. "We will keep you alive as we tear your bodies apart! You will shriek in pain until the very end, when we wrench out your hearts and devour them before your very eyes!"

"Well, looks like the end," Kyle muttered gloomily, drawing the small wood carving knife at his belt. With such a measly weapon being the only thing to defend themselves, they would only be able to take down one more at the very most, before succumbing to their enemies. He and Crono stood facing the monsters on either side, with Lucca between the two of them.

As they stood there, awaiting certain death, a loud crash resounded from above. The demonic creatures looked up to see a figure coming down on them, shouting a battle cry as it drew a large double edged sword. It descended on the evil beings, slicing one apart vertically in two in its fall. As the mystic's bloody halves were falling apart, the form jumped up and plunged its weapon deeply into the chest of the one next to it. This was followed by the figure kicking off the body, leaping over the youths and severing the third mystic's head. Before the last one had time to react, it had already been cut apart at the waist, the top part sliding off and splattering to the floor like the others' corpses.

Crono, Kyle and Lucca blinked in surprise at the speed with which this had all happened. Their savior sheathed his sword and turned to face them. He was fairly short, hardly taller than a young child, but still wore travelling clothes, gloves, a thick green cloak and sturdy metal breastplate. What was really startling about him, was that he had the appearance of a frog. Bulging yellow eyes, green clammy skin and a white underbelly. Lucca stood still, her eyes wide open as she stared at him. "Lower thine guard and thou'rt allowing the enemy in," he spoke to them in a rough, yet composed voice.

"That's… a frog," Lucca mumbled disbelievingly.

Kyle sheathed his wood knife and extended his hand to the frog person. "Thank you very much," he said gratefully as they shook hands.

"Thee are welcome," he responded.

He turned to Crono who smiled in gratitude as he shook hands with him. "We are most grateful to you for saving us. My name's Crono, this is my brother Kyle, and out friend Lucca."

"Aye, the two of thou do look much like family," the amphibious individual remarked. "I have overheard that thou are seeking her majesty. "Mayhaps we could help each other."

"What? You come with us?" Lucca said. She squirmed uneasily at the idea. "I'm not sure about going with a frog."

The creature bowed its head dejectedly at this. "I see my guise does not incur thy trust. Very well, I shall look for the queen by myself."

He turned away to leave, at which Kyle gently elbowed Lucca in the stomach and Crono looked at her disapprovingly. She developed a look of shame and called out to the frog person. "Wait!" He turned stopped and turned back, looking at Lucca. "I'm sorry. You seem like a nice frog, I mean, person. So umm, maybe it would be a good idea if we helped each other out after all."

"I thank thee, milady," he said, giving her a short bow.

"So, what's your name then?"

"Thou may call me Frog."

* * *

Okay, hope you liked it, and please review. Till next (which will include the first 'boss' battle: Yakra).


	8. The Queen is Found

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN CHRONO TRIGGER! Nor will I ever own it.

So, I decided to take this fic off of hold for a while at least. I'll try to update at the least once a month, maybe every two or so weeks if I can manage.

Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

Chrono Trigger: The Untold Story

By: Patattack**  
**

**The Queen is Found**

Rain kept falling in the night, as if a tear had been opened in the sky and the heavens themselves were pouring out. Large drops of water pounded repeatedly against the cathedral's ceiling, creating a constant noise, akin to that of a drum beat. Occasional lightning flashes and the derailing sky could be seen through the window that Frog had smashed through in order to save Lucca, Crono and Kyle, though from the intact windows things were mostly a blur.

Following their brief round of introductions, the group of four had each split apart to search for any further traces of Queen Leene, or clues about her captors. Not really knowing where to look exactly, they simply took different sections of the cathedral with the intent hopes that looking in every corner would yield some manner of enlightenment as to their next move. Unfortunately for them, even after searching meticulously for over half an hour, they remained as unsuccessful as before they'd begun.

"I fear I have found naught," Frog said as he, Lucca and Crono regrouped in the main room of the cathedral.

"I couldn't find a single clue at all," Lucca admitted.

"Same here," Crono added. "Maybe Kyle's found something over at his end."

The three waited there for about a minute, until they heard Kyle's footsteps coming towards them from down one of the hallways. He walked over to his companions, holding a few things in his arms. "I didn't have any luck finding anything about the queen of her captors, but I did come upon a bunch of weapons in a dusty looking storeroom," the younger red headed brother announced. "Kind of looks like stuff that might have been forgotten. Either that or the mystics just decided to stash some soldiers' gear there."

Kyle then gave a crossbow and quiver of bolts to Lucca, who seemed comfortable enough with the weapon. And even though it seemed a little dusty, a short examination assured her that it was still in quite good condition. Crono received a single sided sword, with a bit of a curve, a deadly sharp point, simple guard, and a hilt long enough to allow for a solid one or two handed grip. As for Kyle himself, he kept a spear slung across his back. It was about as long as his previous one, with a sturdy wooden handle and red tassel hanging just under the gray metal spearhead. "Well, at least we're armed for when we run into any enemies," Crono commented, attaching the sheathed sword at his left.

"Excepted for the little fact that we haven't run into anything or anyone at all," Lucca pointed out. "At this rate we'll never be able to save the queen, even armed as we are now."

"Aye, the situation does look bleak," Frog commented. "But we must believe that we shall find the queen, and save her from the villain's clutches."

Kyle then slammed his fist down on the keys of the nearby organ, producing a sudden loud noise. "Watch it!" Lucca reprimanded him. "You almost scared..." the female inventor interrupted herself when a piece of the wall to the left of the organ began to shake and grumble. A split moment later, it started to slide down, sinking into the floor, leaving a large open doorway, tall enough so that none of them would have to worry about bumping their heads, and sufficiently wide for two of them to walk side by side. The four of them stood still for a moment at this, staring at the now unveiled secret passage.

"... Well this isn't very suspicious," Kyle commented sarcastically.

"I myself do rather find this design to be suspicious in nature," Frog said, a touch of confusion on his face due to the younger boy's words.

"He was being sarcastic," Crono explained. Frog merely blinked, obviously not understanding the meaning of what he'd just said.

"Maybe we should wait until we find a better time to explain exactly how sarcasm works," Lucca suggested.

"Right, let's get moving." Having just said those words, Crono walked into the darkened passageway, with Frog walking beside him, and Lucca and Kyle bringing up the rear. A split moment later, they came upon a set of stairs that angled down, came to a platform, turned a sharp left twice, and then went back down out of their sight. Lucca grabbed a torch that was hanging on the wall before the stairs, which she carried as they went down, casting a welcome light.

After moving down the stairs for a short while, the group came to the end of the stairs, arriving in a well lit hallway with simple wooden door at the end and a red carpet going from the stairs to the door. "Guess the only way to go is forward," Kyle stated, at which the four of them did just that, opening the door to an unexpected sight.

Before them, was a fairly wide and spacious room, with red carpet laid down on the floor all over the corridor. Numerous torches and candles were lined up against the wall, effectively making outside illumination unnecessary. As for the layout of the room, there was a corridor at the start, extending to the far left from the entry point that the group had come in through. In this corridor, on either end, was a set of stairs that led to a second level, where it was possible to look down at the first. From the middle of the hallway was another corridor that went straight forward, creating a 'T', with more rooms on either side, under the floor of the second level, and another door at the end, like the one they'd come through. Now that they were in the underground territory, Crono and Kyle began to dredge up memories of their earlier years, when they'd gone exploring the cathedral's ruins, remembering bits of the basement they'd been able to make their way through. As they stood there, unmoving while they looked around, they could see no mystics within their immediate range of vision.

"Okay, so where are we supposed to find the queen in all this?" Crono wondered.

"Dunno," Lucca admitted. "Search the rooms one by one until we find something? Unless one of you has a better suggestion."

"Nay, I do not," Frog confirmed.

"I guess we might as well get started then," Kyle said, taking out his spear and holding it in one hand, loosely using it like a walking stick. The four of them started moving down the corridor, until they came to a corner at their right, peering down the hallway and seeing a small group of gargoyle like mystics that were merely standing at ease over by the door. "Any ideas on how to get past there guys? The only one of us who resembles them in the slightest is Frog."

"I think I've got it," Lucca said. "You know how some mystics are able to disguise themselves, just like those five snake ladies who'd taken the nuns' place?" The three males in their group nodded in confirmation. "Well, we can pretend that we're just in disguises and posing as humans. And as for Frog, he should pass through without trouble."

"Okay, so what if one of them asks us why we're still in disguises in their hideout?" Crono inquired.

"Easy, we just tell them that we're still trying to get used to the disguises."

"The plan does carry risk," Frog said. "But I fear our choices are few." The four of them then began to wander around, looking into the nearby rooms. The first few they checked were devoid of people, or mystics. In a dining room like area, they came across a pair of gargoyle like beings sitting at a table, who were apparently drinking while playing cards. Both of them had stone gray skin, with a pair of bat shaped wings on their backs, and while one of them had blackish eyes, the other's were a lighter shade. Frog was surprised by this, given that the ongoing way cemented already existing rumors about mystics being always violent, monstrous, ugly creatures, and other such things. So, seeing his 'hated enemies' engaging in such a normal activity would logically be unexpected for him.

"Hey there," one of them spoke to the group, waving at them in an easygoing, nonchalant manner. "What're you three still doing in disguises?"

"We're just trying to get used to them, to make sure nothing goes wrong when it matters," Crono responded.

"Whatever," the second muttered, shrugging his shoulders. "If you're hungry, just take what you need from here. Either that or go look in the kitchens." Realizing that they were in fact hungry, and given that their charade appeared to be effectively fooling the two mystics, Crono, Kyle and Lucca decided to grab some food while they were at it. They pulled out a small loaf of bread and cheese from a basket lying against the wall, with a bit of dried beef jerky.

"Thanks for the grub," Kyle said as they turned around to leave.

"No problem," the first mystic replied. The group then walked out of this room, leaving the two gargoyle like being behind, munching on their food as they continued their search for the queen.

"That went well," Crono muttered through a mouthful of bread and cheese. "Although we still aren't any closer to actually finding the queen." The four of them kept going from one room to another, seeing a few mystics of different appearances and sizes. From snake women like earlier, to more gargoyles, lizard like creatures, impish being and so on and so forth. Fortunately, none of the mystics who saw them paid them any mind, automatically thinking that they were friends of theirs. In their mindset, no humans could possibly be stupid enough to simply wander in one of their strongholds so carelessly.

From listening in to conversations and piecing little tidbits of information together, they were able to confirm that the queen was in fact hidden in the cathedral's underground, guarded by the mystic leader. Another morsel of information they overheard revealed to them the location of a room where the queen's guards, who'd been with her during the kidnapping, were being kept. Unfortunately, despite their efforts to make sense of things, they were still unable to pinpoint the queen's exact location with any degree of accuracy. "Mayhap we should seek out the imprisoned guards," Frog suggested.

"Yeah, we need to free them from this place before anything happens to them," Lucca said. "And they might know something about where to find the queen." Wordlessly, the four of them made their way towards the staircase on the far end of the hallway from where they'd come in, went into a small room, closing the door behind, then continued into a larger, wide open room with cells lined up against the walls. Two mystics were standing guard here, both of them stout, with thick yellowy skin, beady eyes, large noses, and a monstrous, albeit tough appearance. They were each wearing bronze plate armor, one of them holding a thick battle axe, and the other a heavy brass club.

"I'm bored," the axe wielder muttered to his companion in a rough voice. "Why can't we just eat the last two prisoners here?"

"Because, we haven't been authorized to do that yet," the other replied. "And what're you complaining about? You already ate the one I wanted just yesterday. So shut up, and stop whining. Besides, once the boss kills the queen, we might get a chance to feast on her."

"Fine then. But I still don't see what difference it'll make if we kill these- hey you, what're you doing here?" the grumbling mystic called out to the group of four once he spotted them. Crono looked to his friends for a brief moment, then gave a short nod. "Hey, I asked you what you're doing here." Just as he finished repeating his question, Crono, Frog and Kyle suddenly charged the two guards at the same time. Hastily, he managed to stop Frog's sword with his forearm, though the blade still cut him. He tried to bring his weapon around, but Crono stabbed him under the shoulder, causing him to drop it as that limb lost its grip.

As this happened, his companion swung his club down at Kyle, who nimbly leapt to the side, then jumped up and kicked hard at his face, a cracking sound indicating that his nose was likely broken. Ignoring the pain, he swung his club again in an attempt to hit the younger red headed boy, but missed when his target ducked and rolled out of the way. As soon as her friend did that, Lucca, who had already loaded a bolt into her crossbow, aimed and fired. From the close range, the projectile easily punctured his armor and sunk into his chest. His life was ended when Kyle came up from behind him and stabbed his spear into the back of his neck, at the same time as Frog decapitated the other one.

"Glen, it's you!" Frog looked in the voice's direction, seeing that two cells side by side each had a haggard looking man inside.

"Fear not, we shall free you from this horrid imprisonment," he reassured the pair.

"Thank god you came here," the other said in relief. "They already killed everyone else, including the cathedral's priest and all the nuns too. I was sure that they'd move onto us soon."

"I can't find a key on either of the guards," Lucca said. "How're we gonna get these guys out of here?"

"Just leave that to me," Kyle said. He then walked over to the first guard's cell, cracked his knuckles, then pulled out a small set of wires from the pouch at his belt. He proceeded to insert them into the lock, and after working at it for a moment, he managed to force it open, then followed up by doing the same to the other cell door.

"Since when have you been able to do that?" Lucca asked, an eyebrow raised in question.

"For a while," he answered, putting away the wires. "I've always had a knack for this kind of thing. And besides, it's hardly the time to be talking about this."

"Thank you for saving us," both the guards said.

"You're welcome," Crono replied. "But we still need to save the queen, and we don't know where she's being held. Any information you can give us would be beneficial."

The two guards then proceeded to tell them what they knew about the situation. Apparently, the mystic leader, a beast named Yakra, had infiltrated the cathedral with some of his subordinates, using their shape-shifting abilities to fool the priest and nuns living there. After finding out about the secret basement, he promptly took over the cathedral, imprisoning its residents in the cells below. Then, one day, the king's chancellor, a pious man who had a good relation with the priest, came to visit his friend. As soon as he came into the cathedral, Yakra had him imprisoned and returned to the castle under his guise, becoming closer to the king, and his mission of assassinating him.

The two guards also told them that they'd overheard that the monster's true identity had been unveiled, therefore prompting him to leave the king's side and abandon his mission. "We heard that since he failed to kill the king, he's going to execute the queen and the chancellor as well, and soon too."

"Not on our watch," Kyle said. "Do you know where in this place that monster's keeping them?"

"From what we know, he's keeping the two of them in his headquarters at the far back," one of the men answered. "Go down the hall, through the door, and keep moving straight until you reach his rooms. That's all we can tell."

"Thank you, you've been more than helpful," Crono reassured them. "We're going to go take care of the rest, you guys just head on out of this place. Try to get to the castle if you can, and give them the message." The two men nodded, then followed the group as they quietly made their way back towards the entry point they'd come in through. They successfully reached the door at the end of the organ triggered passageway, without being spotted by any mystics. Once there, the two guards parted ways with them, going up the stairs and out the cathedral. "This is going to be dangerous," Crono said to his friend and brother once the former prisoners were gone. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

"As sure as I've ever been about anything," Kyle said with determination. "Besides, I'm not letting you go at this alone."

"I'm coming with you guys whether you want me or not," Lucca added. "After all, there is strength in numbers, and I'm hardly a defenseless girl."

"Such devout loyalty you all possess," Frog marveled. "It will be my honor to fight alongside you, for I know that together we shall succeed in rescuing her majesty."

Crono smiled a little at this. "Good to hear that. Now let's get going."

* * *

A fair while later, away from the cathedral and back at Guardia Castle, the king was sitting alone in his chambers, looking at a portrait of himself and wife just after they'd gotten married. "Leene…" he muttered sadly. "I'm sorry I failed you. That villain mystic got away, and now… I have lost you. I hope you live, so that I may see you again."

The king continued to stare at the portrait with a saddened expression, when all of a sudden, one of the male servants barged into the chambers, visibly out of breath. "Majesty… something… important... need… see… now."

"Calm down man," the king said. "Breathe in and tell me exactly what the matter is."

The servant breathed in a few times, then spoke up again. "Two of the queen's guards who were with her when she was kidnapped just arrived here on horses. They're in the throne room and are saying that they have an important message to-" The king suddenly bolted past the servant, running out of his chambers, through the hallways, down the stairs and arrived at the throne room in the shortest amount of time that it had ever taken him before.

Upon arriving there, he saw the two escaped guards in question, who were declining the castle servant's offers to tend to them, intent on first delivering their report. "Where is she? What happened? Is she still alive? Tell me what you know." the king demanded.

The two men then proceeded to tell him the same story they'd told Crono, Kyle, Frog and Lucca. From the explanation of how the mystics had taken over the cathedral, to them and the other guards being ambushed, to their imprisonment, and the bits of information they'd been able to piece together from listening to their captors. Then they came to the part when the three youth and Frog, or Glen as they called him, came to their rescue, killing the two guards and freeing them from their cells. "Then he told us to leave and carry the message to the castle, and that they were going to go save the queen and chancellor by themselves."

"Thank you, you've done well," the king said, then turned to address his captain of the guard standing nearby. "Gather as many men as you can, and as fast as you can. Lives are at stake here, and not just my wife's. We need to move on to the cathedral now!"

"Yes sir!" he replied with a salute, running off to fulfill his orders.

'I hope I get the chance to thank you all later,' the king thought to himself.

* * *

Back at the cathedral, the group of four had almost reached their intended destination. Like the rest of their incursion so far, with the exception of the two guards earlier, they'd met no mystics who were hostile, or blocked their path in any way. Then, after walking along the required path long enough, they finally arrived at a fairly wide, yet simple hallway, with a set of double doors at the other end. The only other being there present, with the exception of themselves, were a trio of mystics, similar to the two they'd killed already, who were guarding the doors. Two were even armed in the same way as the others, with the third holding a wicked looking broadsword.

"I'm tired of waiting," the club wielding mystic declared, speaking in a gruff voice.

"Yeah," the sword wielder agreed. "Why doesn't the boss just kill the queen already? He couldn't manage to kill the king like he was supposed to, so he should just get it over with and finish her off."

"To hell if know," the third one said. "He'll probably kill her soon enough, and that pudgy old man too. And for your own good, you shouldn't talk about the boss' failure unless you're sure he can't hear you. Or else he might get angry and kill you himself."

"Whatever," the first muttered. "Hey, what're those four doing here?"

"And why are three of them still wearing disguises?"

The leader said nothing until the group of four came close, loudly slamming the handle of his axe on the floor. "What business do you have here?" he demanded. "Yakra is busy preparing himself for the queen's execution. He doesn't want anybody to disturb him before he's ready."

"We need to see him now," Crono said carefully. "It's very urgent. So please let us through."

"Not a chance," the leader shot back. "I told you that no one could see him, and I meant it. Now get out of my sight and get lost, before I get angry with you!"

"Alright then, so be it." At those words, Lucca raised her crossbow and fired, the bolt sinking into the sword wielder's heart, dropping him instantly. The two red headed brothers then charged the leader at the same time as Frog went after the other one. Crono swung his sword for his enemy's head who blocked it with his weapon's shaft, but Kyle's spear snaked its way past his defenses and stabbed him in his right shoulder. Growling in annoyance, he attempted to swat the younger brother away, but had to back off to avoid Crono's sword again. Faced with another attack in tandem, he moved towards Kyle, who slipped way, proving him to be the feint, while Crono delivered the finishing blow, severing his thick neck.

As for Frog, he danced around the other mystic's club, scoring a few cuts, then at one moment, managed to cut off his left hand. Then, as swift as an eagle, he immediately lunged forward and stabbed him in the throat. "Now there's only the mystic leader left to deal with," Crono stated.

Lucca was in the middle of opening her mouth to say something, but was interrupted when a gargoyle mystic came onto the scene, stopping in its tracks the second that it saw what had happened. "INTRUDERS!" It shouted loudly, alerting the other mystics in the cathedral. "SOUND THE ALA-" It's cried were cut short when Lucca quickly raised her crossbow and fired a shot, catching it in the mouth and effectively ending its life.

"Shit!" Kyle cursed, knowing that their cover was now blown and that mystics would be coming after them very soon.

"Damnit, the whole cathedral must have heard that!" Crono added.

"Come on!" Lucca said anxiously. "We need to move before they all get here!" The four of them then burst through the large double doors, slamming them shut behind them and barricading it with a thick plank lying nearby, obviously reserved for just that purpose. A short moment after this, they could hear the sound of mystics pounding on the doors from the other side, though fortunately, even though the door bulged inward a little bit, it had no real effect other than that.

"I was planning to only kill the queen and the old man..." a strange voice spoke up from behind the group, causing them to turn around suddenly. "- but now that you're here, I guess I'll just have to kill you all as well." The four of them could see that the one who had spoken was a figure that Crono recognized to be the king's chancellor, except that now his eyes were blood red. He still wore the same robes as before, yet some of his teeth were in fact fangs, and his face screamed of malice and cruel intentions.

On the wall behind him, was a short old man, almost identical to the cruel being standing before them, suggesting that he was the real chancellor. He was slumped on the floor, his hands shackled to the wall, looking haggard and weak for the most part, but still relatively well, despite his less than optimal treatment. To his side was a woman in tattered clothes, who was not restrained with any sort of bindings. She had orange golden hair that was loosely tied at the back of her head, deep blue eyes, and looked very similar to Marle. "Queen Leene!" Frog exclaimed, visibly relieved to see her alive and mostly well.

"Glen!" she said. "I knew you'd come! I knew you would never give up."

"Your majesty, please stand back and allow us to deal with this horrid fiend," Frog said, drawing his sword and pointing the tip at their enemy.

"Glen…" the real chancellor said weakly. "Be wary of that creature."

"Don't you worry about us," Kyle said reassuringly. "We'll take care of this guy… or thing… whatever it is."

"Oh really…?" the monster spoke up in its menacing voice. "Do you think I'm going to be so easily defeated, you little brat? I did not get to where I am by being a simple pushover who can be beaten by a measly bunch such as yourselves. I will make you regret that you dared challenge me, the great Yakra!" The demonic creature began to change, bulging outward, expanding like a balloon as it went from one form to another. Its fangs grew bigger and more numerous as additional deformed, but still strong, limbs came out from its body. Its skin changed into a thick, leathery brown and yellow color, similar to that of the dead guards, except with thick bony spikes protruding from out its back. When the transformation was finished, a hideous creature much bigger than any them was standing there menacingly, saliva dripping from its mouth as it looked at them with three devilish eyes.

The three teenagers pulled out their weapons as they stood face to face with the creature, Lucca fitting a bolt to her crossbow, while the two red headed brothers gripped their own weapons tightly. All four of them, even Frog, although he was no stranger to battle, couldn't help but be somewhat uneasy at the mystic leader's monstrous form. The queen ran to a corner of the room, hiding behind a desk. "Now then…" Yakra spoke in a deeper, harsh voice. "Prepare to die, in the name of Lord Magus!"

Yakra was the one to make the first move, when a handful of spiky pins emerged from one of its arms, then were shot out towards the group, who quickly dispersed to avoid getting skewered. Crono immediately bounced back, charging towards their enemy with fierce determination engraved on his face. He quickly swung his blade, drawing a line across Yakra's face, then jumped back to avoid his flailing limbs. He screamed in pain and turned towards Lucca when a bolt sunk into his side, but this shift in his attention allowed for Kyle to come at him from another side, stabbing his spear into the monster's middle eye.

"Damn you all!" he shouted angrily. The tide of the battle suddenly took a turn for the worst when Yakra slammed one of his limbs into the pit of Kyle's stomach, lifting him off his feet and sending him crashing into Frog. He then moved towards Crono, who, although he managed to catch Yakra off guard and sever the tip of one of his limbs, was struck by another one and sent flying into the wall. The evil monster started to advance on Crono, who was struggling a little to get up, but stopped in his tracks when Lucca shot him again, hitting him in the shin of his left leg. "You're really starting to annoy me, little girl," Yakra growled. "That does it, I'm going to kill you first." With those words said, he started moving towards Lucca, who had to forgo loading another bolt into her crossbow, in favor of running away from the evil monster.

"Help!" Lucca screamed in desperation as she continued to run away from her pursuer.

"Hey ugly, get away from her!" Kyle called out to their enemy. Immediately after this, he came running at him as fast as he'd ever done, leaped onto a pedestal, then jumped off, delivering a drop kick as hard as he could to the side of the mystic's head. Although Kyle was certainly not as heavy at Yakra himself, the momentum and power behind this move still served its purpose of throwing him off balance a little. With his balance upset as it was, Frog took the opportunity to leap at him and slice his sword at his face, taking out the left eye. While Frog did this, Kyle grabbed Lucca and ran out of the way.

"You alright?" Lucca asked Crono when he came over to them, as she was hastily loading another bolt.

"Been better," he replied, shaken from slamming into the wall, but overcoming it nonetheless. Frog then had to abandon his hounding of Yakra and back away in order to avoid getting crushed by the large mystic.

"I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY THE LIKES OF YOU!" Yakra shouted with obvious anger. "YOU WILL ALL DIE!" He then started to charge madly at the group, forcing them to do nothing but dodge him. Although they were able to avoid the greater majority of his offensive, they still suffered some injuries during his blind rage. Kyle received a rather serious gash across his left arm when one of the monster's bony spikes grazed him in passing. Frog took the brunt of a body slam from their enemy, but was fortunate enough that his chest plate reduced most of the damage to a few bruises. As for Crono, he managed to dodge some pins hastily fired at his face, which still came fast enough to cause a few scratches on his cheek, one perilously close to an eye.

"Lucca, shoot him when you have the chance!" Crono called out to her as they continued to dodge Yakra's berserker rampage. "We'll charge in after." The three male members of the group then proceeded to hit their enemy with a series of small attacks, none of them even causing him any notable injury. Fortunately for them, they were successful in giving Lucca the time and space she needed, so that she was able to aim with her weapon and fire, the bolt hardly sinking into Yakra, but still putting out his last eye, causing him to howl in pain. "NOW!" With their enemy in the state that he was, Crono and Frog dashed at him from opposite sides, cutting deeply into his stomach, creating a pair of crossing gashes. Kyle came charging in immediately after, plunging the entire head of his spear straight in the center of the 'X' the previous attacks had made. Letting out a wounded cry of pain, Yakra fell on his side, no longer moving at all.

Kyle then placed a foot on the dead mystic's stomach and pulled out his spear with his good arm, wiped it off on the corpse, then put it away on his back. "Whew, glad that's over," he said with relief. However, now that the battle was in fact over and the adreline rush resulting from it had faded away, the injury on his left arm was starting to flare up, causing him to cringe a little in pain. Seeing her friend like this, Lucca was immediately at his side, while Crono went to free the chancellor. He massaged his sore wrists after having the shackles removed, thanking Crono as he shot Yakra's dead body a look of disdain.

"Your majesty, are you well?" Frog asked when she came over to him, kneeling in front of her.

"Yes, thanks to you all," she said kindly. "You have my utmost gratitude."

"And mine as well," the chancellor added.

"You're very welcome," Crono replied. "However, there are still other mystics left in this place, and we have to find a way past them to get out of here."

"You know, now that you're mentioning that, I just realized that they haven't been pounding on the doors for a bit," Kyle noted.

"Yeah, I just noticed that... Kyle, why aren't you wearing a shirt right now?" Crono asked, realizing that his younger brother had removed the spear and sheath from his back, along with his tunic and shirt.

"Don't blame me, it's not my fault," he said defensively. "Lucca ordered me to do it and wouldn't accept anything otherwise." The female inventor then finished wrapping his wound with bandages that she'd pulled out of her bag, tying it tightly at the end. Now that she was finished with this, she couldn't help but stare at her friend's bare, and also well-built torso. "Umm, Lucca? Do you mind if I put my shirt back on, or did you want to stare some more?" A flaming red color flared up on Lucca's face, showing her visible embarrassment.

"Hey Lucca, you can stare all you want later, we'd better be leaving now," Crono pointed out, though not without smirking a little.

"Shut up," she shot back. A short moment later, Kyle was fully dressed again, with his spear strapped across his back, and Lucca's blush had managed to subside. As they were walking back towards the doors to leave, they suddenly noticed an ever so slight smell of smoke, along with the noise of footsteps coming towards them, following by someone pounding on the door.

"Come on, men!" a male voice spoke up. "Her majesty must be in here, so let's make it quick!"

"Yes captain!" a bunch of other voices answered.

"Eric!" Frog called out to the other side.

"Glen?" the individual apparently named Eric said back. "You'd better move quickly, someone set off a fire. This place is burning!" Crono and Frog then pulled the plank out and tossed it aside, allowing for the doors to be opened. On the other side, were a bunch of the castle guards, accompanied by their captain. As soon as the urgent message had been delivered by the two former prisoners, every guard who could be found within a short amount of time had been rushed to the cathedral, where they'd found the still open secret passage near the organ. The mystics living in the place had obviously not expected something of this magnitude to happen so suddenly, and were therefore caught off guard by the incoming soldiers. Unfortunately, in the midst of the fighting, someone, mystic or human, had managed to set off a fire, which expanded to the level that it was at now.

"Your majesty," the captain said with a short bow. "The mystics have been broken. We must leave now before we get caught here." Without wasting time for further words, all of them took off running away from the battle's site, the chancellor being carried on Crono's back due to his weakened condition. They moved as fast as possible, passing by sections of the basement that were in flames, a chandelier smashed against the ground and mystic corpses lying about, along with other telltale signs of the guards' assault. They ran back to the staircase, bolted out the passage and stopped only when they were well outside the cathedral's walls, standing with all the other guards, along with the horses that they'd ridden from the castle. Soon after this, part of the cathedral crumbled and collapsed upon itself, while the flames spread to other parts of the holy building, burning for now despite the rain's efforts to put them out.

"Your majesty, chancellor, are you well?" the captain of the guards asked.

"Yes, now that we're free and that that monster is dead," the chancellor answered.

"We owe our lives to Glen and his young friends," the queen said. "If it we're not for them, then we would not be standing here before you."

"Yes, now that we're free and that monster is dead," the chancellor answered.

"We owe our lives to Glen and his young friends," the queen said. "If it we're not for them, then we would not be standing here before you."

The captain and his men all fell down on one knee before the group of four, heads down in respect. "Thank you," the captain spoke. "Because of your bravery, our queen is safe. You have all done our kingdom a great service."

"Twas my duty," Frog reassured him.

"No problem," Crono added.

"You're welcome," Lucca pitched in.

"Yeah... what they said," Kyle said. "So..." he began as the guards all rose again. "Maybe we could head towards the castle now?" he suggested. At this, two guards each brought over a pair of horses, pulling them along by the bridle. They were apparently quite well trained, each of them standing still while they mounted up on them. The queen and Frog each mounted one of their own, while the chancellor rode with Crono, and Lucca was left to mount up behind Kyle. "You ready?" he asked his friend.

"Yeah, I think - eeeee!" she cried out when they all started forward, grabbing Kyle's waist to reassure herself that she wouldn't fall off. As they rode back to the castle, Crono, Kyle and Lucca all looked at each other and smiled, taking satisfaction that their mission had succeeded and that their troubles were almost at an end.

* * *

So, hope you liked it, please review, and all that stuff.


	9. Joyful Reunions Mostly

**Disclaimer:** If you think I own Chrono Trigger... then no offense, but you should get your brain checked out.

* * *

Chrono Trigger: The Untold Story

By: Patattack

**Joyful Reunions… Mostly**

Queen Leene, the Chancellor, Frog, Crono, Lucca, Kyle and their escort of guardsmen were continuing on the road leading towards the castle. The trip was done is relative silence for the most part, safe for when one of the guards popped a question about the events that had happened. That then lead to the to the four heroes to recount their story to everyone, although there was no mention made about time travel, the three futuristic teenagers knowing that it would almost to surely pose unwanted complication and confusion.

So, instead of the full truth, they merely told them that they were from a small town far enough away from the kingdom, which no one seemed to have trouble believing. Kyle drove suspicion further away from anyone's thoughts by recounting his version of their tales in an elaborate and flourishing manner, much to his brother and friend's amusement. The guardsmen held a certain measure of awe for the heroes' courage and valor, which was only further reinforced by the queen and chancellor adding their own words into the mix.

"... flew like eagles, straight towards the beast, their blades slicing across its hide, precisely at the same time, a deadly tandem perfectly executed," Kyle recounted to the guards, describing their fight against the mystic general. "And then, I myself came in behind them, burying my spear in the foul creature's stomach, right where my friends had struck."

"That does sound like quite a battle, Sir Kyle," one of the guards commented.

"Simply Kyle will do, my good man," he replied in a cheery voice. "And twas indeed a fierce battle. For Yakra's berserker rage made it as dangerous as many a foe, refusing to leave us unscathed. But of course, as I said, our chance to put down the beast for good came from the magnificent shot that put out its one remaining eye, fired by the wondrous and ever precise Lady Lucca."

The female inventor's face reddened quite notably, due to Kyle's praise of her accomplishment. "Really, Kyle, you don't have to lay it on lay it on that thick," she said.

"Aaaah, but it would unfair if I were to give you less than the recognition you deserve for the splendid performance which you displayed during – ooof!" Kyle was forcibly interrupted by his friend, when she wrapped her arms even more tightly around his stomach.

Unknown to the two of them, Crono was smirking because of their antics. 'Those two really are the most oblivious couple I've seen,' he thought to himself. 'I wonder how long it'll take them to realize what they mean to one another.'

* * *

Finally, after a fairly long ride, the group had finally arrived before the castle. Strangely enough, just then, the rain started to fade away, dwindling into nothingness with surprising speed, the clouds looking less ominous then they were before. "Well… not that I'm ungrateful or anything, but couldn't the rain have stopped earlier? Like, before we're about to enter the castle?" Kyle wondered.

Crono laughed a little at this. "Oh, shut up and stop complaining," he replied as they all went through the open gates and into the courtyard. A bunch of attendants came over at this time, helping them down from their horses, then taking them away to the stables.

"I am not going to get back on one of those animals ever again," Lucca declared as they walked into the castle itself, relieved to be in a warm place. "Not unless there isn't a single other option."

"Come on, it wasn't that bad now, was it?" Kyle asked, earning a blank look in return. "Ooookay, so maybe it was." They all remained quiet as they walked through the halls, going along the same path that Crono had taken previously, though back then it had been under much different circumstances. Not too long afterwards, they arrived in the throne room, where the king was sitting on his throne, and a crowd of nobles, attendants and other such people were gathered. Many eyes widened at the sight of the queen and her escort walking into the room, but none were more surprised and grateful than the king himself, his wife's ragged appearance being of no importance to him, only that she was there.

To Crono, Lucca and Kyle's surprise, the king suddenly sprang from his chair, throwing all pretence of calm and composure out the window, embracing her and weeping for joy. "My dearest, is it truly you?" he asked.

"Tis me, my love," she replied, as happy to be reunited with him as he was with her. "I have returned to you."

"Glen!" the king said when he took notice of Frog, after holding his wife in his arms for a few moments longer. "It is good to see you again, old friend. We all have missed you. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving my wife."

"I welcome thee, your majesty," Frog replied humbly. "However, I did not complete this endeavor alone. I had help from these three young people, without whom I would not have succeeded."

The king then turned his attention towards Crono, Lucca and Kyle, who all bowed in their own manner, though somewhat awkwardly, as they weren't entirely used to it. "Please, stand tall. You need not bow before me. You have all proven yourselves to be heroes, and shall be treated as such. Now, might I know your names?" he asked, directing the question to Crono's companions, as he already knew Crono's name.

"I'm Kyle, your majesty," the younger red head spoke respectfully. "Crono's younger brother by a year."

"And I'm Lucca," the only female member of their troop said. "A friend of Kyle and Crono."

"Thank you all." The King repeated, then turned to address the crowd gathered. "Let it be known throughout the kingdom what service these brave young people have done for Guardia!" A collective cheer rose from all the people gathered, causing the three to feel a little flattered by the attention and respect directed at them. And even Frog, though he was telling himself to be unworthy of such praise, couldn't help but feel a certain amount of joy from all this.

* * *

Sometime later, the four heroes, along with the royal couple, were sitting in the queen's chambers. They in the exact room where Marle had disappeared, waiting for the young woman herself to come back into existence, now that the timeline had been re-arranged. Crono was visibly anxious, given his pacing back and forth, while Lucca and Kyle were less so, simply waiting on a couch, the latter juggling with one hand, so as not to put too much strain on his bandaged arm.

As for the king and queen, they were patiently sitting down together, waiting to see the girl who almost everyone had been so utterly convinced that she was the queen. And as for Frog, the amphibious knight was leaning against the wall, not a sound coming from him. Although the king and queen had tried to persuade him to stay, even to take back his post as a full-fledged knight of Guardia, he had merely shaken his head in shame, insisting that he was unworthy. His reason for staying was simply that he wanted to see for himself how much Marle was similar to the queen.

"Crono, you should stop pacing around like that," Kyle spoke up after a moment of silence. "You'll probably just make yourself dizzy and even more anxious."

"He's right you know," Lucca said. "You should just sit down. After all, these sorts of things take time to set themselves right."

"I suppose…" He then stopped and sat down on the couch. "Lucca… you just admitted that Kyle was right," Crono pointed out, acting surprised.

"Heh, that's a first," the younger brother said.

"Don't get used to it," she shot back.

"Glen, are you certain that we cannot persuade you to stay for even a moment longer?" the king asked, addressing the deformed knight. "At least for the feast of celebration?"

"I do apologize most sincerely," he replied. "But I am not worthy of such company. I mean to depart and live alone, once I have seen the girl whom all thought to be her majesty."

"As you wish. But know that you will always be welcome here, should you choose to return," the queen added. Just as she finished saying this, an odd greenish light came into existence in the middle of the room, swirling about and expanding. All those present suddenly stood straight, not uttering a word as it shifted shape and changed color. A moment later, it faded away, and there, dressed as she was before her untimely disappearance, even if she still looked a bit confused, was Marle.

"Marle!" Crono exclaimed happily.

The royal pair had twin looks shock written all over their faces, stunned at how the young woman looked so much like a mirror image of Leene herself, barring only a few small signs of age. For his part, Frog was also surprised at the resemblance, but was simply less expressive about it, while Kyle and Lucca were smiling to see her back. Marle looked at Crono for a moment, then stepped forward and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly, prompting him to hug her in return. "Crono… it was so scary. I was somewhere… it was dark and cold…"

"Shhhh… it's okay," he reassured her. "There's nothing to worry about. You're here with us now."

The future princess then turned towards Lucca and Kyle, giving them both a hug at the same time and thanking them. "Awww, it was nothing," Kyle said sheepishly after that, waving away concerns about what they'd gone through. "And anyway, we couldn't have done it without Frog to help us out."

Marle recoiled in surprise as she saw Frog's form, but managed to tone it down somewhat. "Thine resemblance to her majesty is quite uncanny," he commented. "I see why thou would have been mistaken for her. I shall now take my leave."

"It's too bad you couldn't stay longer," Crono said.

"Friend, Crono.. before I depart, I wish to let you know that thou have the makings of a great swordsman. And Kyle, I see you to be a great warrior in the future as well. Train hard, and thy skills shall be unmatched. And Lucca, Marle… please, take care of your friends, for they are like no others." And with that said, he turned around and walked away.

"Froggy… you weren't such a bad guy after all," Lucca muttered.

They all remained contemplatively silent for a moment following this, until the king spoke up. "He is a brave soul, yet terribly burdened. I hope that he finds peace within himself… And now, if you will, let us prepare for the feast to come."

Kyle's stomach then growled a little at this. "Yeah, good idea. I'm starving!"

* * *

Prior to the feast, the four future teenagers were attended to by a handful of servants, who filled up tubs of hot water for them to bathe (with the boys and girls in separate rooms of course), took their clothing away and replaced them with similar outfits, safe that they clean and un-tattered. In Kyle's case, once he was done, a physician looked at his injury, and then dressed it up in his own manner. Once they were finished dressing up, they all went down to the dining hall, sitting down together, amidst the nobles, dignitaries and other such people.

Food of all sorts they could imagine was covering the tables. From fish, pork, beef, deer and mutton, to all manner of fruits and vegetables, soup, bread, cakes, pies and many other things, even some they couldn't put a name to. Wine, mead, ale and other liquors were also laid out, but the four young people chose not to partake in this indulgence. Marle, who was used to meals like this, ate like anyone else, as if this were perfectly normal, as opposed to Crono, Lucca and Kyle, who were eating more voraciously, stuffing their faces like they were afraid the food would disappear.

Once they were done, Lucca sighing contently and the two boys licking their fingers then wiping them off on the table, Crono and Kyle stood up and went to join the band of musicians, jesters and other such people who were there to entertain the diners. Crono took out his flute and played an upbeat tune, going along with the other musicians, while Kyle grabbed half a dozen juggling balls, tossing them in the air in an impressive display, occasionally engaging another juggler in his act.

After some time had passed, the atmosphere calmed down and Crono decided to return to his seat. For his part, Kyle put away his juggling balls and, after asking the musicians to play softly and everyone else to pay attention, he began to recite the story of their adventure. Of course, he omitted any details about time travel, and as to them being from Guardia, the few details he mentioned were about them being from a place away from the kingdom. And so, he spun his tale with much eloquence, making each action seem even more important, the crowd hanging onto his every word. Finally, when he was done, he gave a flourishing bow, the diners applauding his retelling. At that point, everyone decided that the time to retire for the night had come, the four young travellers included. They were each lead to their rooms, and as they settled down on their beds, they couldn't help but smile, glad that their troubles were at an end, and that they would soon be home again.

* * *

When the morning came, it was with a bit of a heavy heart that the four teenagers, after a good breakfast, bade goodbye to the king and queen, wishing them best of happiness, and being told that they would ever be welcome should they return. They walked under a clear sky and bright sun, back the way Crono had first come to the castle, though under much different circumstances. As they passed through the village, people waved to them, the news of them saving the queen having spread rather quickly, even in so little time. And after a while, they arrived before the mountain where they would find the portal which would lead them back home.

As they walked along the path, Crono, Lucca and Kyle took turns explaining to Marle exactly what had happened. From the fact that they had gone back in time, to the similarities with their own kingdom and so on and so forth.

"I knew the castle looked familiar to the one in our time," Marle commented. "The walls, the dining hall, all the rooms…"

"That must be because you live in the castle in our own time. Right, Princess Nadia?" Lucca asked.

"Princess… uh oh," Marle said, stopping in her tracks, prompting the others to do the same. "I guess you guys figured it out, huh? I'm sorry Crono, I didn't mean to deceive you." Marle then took a moment to breathe in, steeling herself. "I'm Princess Nadia. My father is King Guardia the XXXIII. I really enjoyed that time I spent with you at the fair. But… people always treat me differently because I'm the princess, never like any normal person. If you had known my true identity… Crono, you wouldn't have shown me around the fair."

"Marle…" Crono spoke up, placing a gentle hand of her shoulder. "That is not true. Even though we all know that you're the princess, that doesn't change the fact that we're still friends, and will always be."

"You… really mean that?" she asked, a hopeful expression.

"Of course he does!" Kyle barged in. "That's the way he and I were raised, to be nice to everyone, no matter where they're from, or what their station in life is. And besides, he could never turn down a pretty girl that he- oooof!" Crono then elbowed his little brother in the stomach, hard enough to cut him off mid-speech.

"Yes Marle, I really do mean it."

Marle then let out a squeal of delight, throwing her arms around Crono. The older of the two red heads blushed a light shade, but no one paid it any attention. "Thank you Crono. That's why I like you."

After a moment of this, they separated and all started moving towards the portal's location. "You didn't have to hit me that hard," Kyle complained as they were walking.

"What're you complaining for?" Lucca asked. "You've had worse than that."

"Yeah, and most of it at your hand," he shot back, earning himself a slap of the back of the head.

"You know, your big mouth is going to bet you into trouble one of these days," Crono said mirthfully.

"Oh, shut up," he replied, causing the others to laugh a little.

The group continued moving along, taking a path that, although they still walked for just over an hour, brought them right before the clearing where they had all emerged. Finally, they entered the clearing, coming upon the sight of a minor discoloration in the air. It seemed like a circle floating by itself, a strange color, vaguely resembling that emitted by IERE. "So… how exactly are we going to get home?" Marle asked.

"Well… princess…" Lucca spoke up.

"Come on! I insist that you call me Marle."

"Okay then, Marle… Observe!" Lucca then took out the Gate Key, waving it in front of the portal, prompting it to become more distinguished and grow to a size where all four of them could easily fit through side by side.

"Wow! Lucca, you're amazing!" Marle exclaimed.

"Ha, ha, ha. Ain't it the truth?"

"Anyway, how does this thing work?" Crono asked, himself surprised as well.

"You see this… I call it a 'Gate'," she explained. "It's a portal of sorts that takes you to the same location, but in a different time. The Gates aren't particularly stable, so I experimented around with my teleportation machine, until I could create… a Gate Key." She showed them the wand like object in question. "So, with the Key, we can use the gates as we please, in a safe and controlled manner."

"It's pretty weird how the first portal just went off on its own like that," Marle commented.

"I know. I can't figure it all out," Lucca admitted. "For now, all we have to go out on is that it had something to do with the machine, your pendant, or even both."

"Let's all just go back to our own time and worry about all this later," Crono suggested. The four of them then linked hands and stepped forward into the portal at the same time, their vision fading as they were transported through time.

* * *

At the far end of Leene Square, where the science exhibit had previously been, a man was stumbling about by himself, a bottle of liquor in one hand, more than half empty. To his great surprise, he came upon a strange disturbance floating by itself in mid-air, and was staring at it with a blank expression, when it suddenly started to expand. He took a step back and watched as it grew to the size of a large round door, and then four young people walked out of it. "… I must've ad tooooo mush, da dwinking," he said, slurring his words due to the alcohol, then staring as the four people simply walked by, tossing away his bottle and deciding to go home afterwards.

* * *

"Well… It's good to be back," Crono said.

"You said it, bro," Kyle agreed.

"Hey, Crono, Lucca, Kyle, why don't you all come home with me to the castle?" Marle suggested. "I'd love to have you over for dinner."

"Sorry you went through all that," Lucca said. "But I'm afraid that I won't be able to join you."

"Are you kidding me? That's the most fun I've had in years, plus I've got new friends now. And are you sure you can't come with us?"

"Yeah, I need to go back to my house so I can try to figure out more about exactly how this all happened."

"What about you, little brother?" Crono asked.

"I'll be running back to our own house too," Kyle added. "I want to tell mom what happened. And there's… something I mean to ask her about. Anyway… you can be a gentleman and escort lady Marle back to the castle yourself, hey?"

"Well alright then. We'll see you both later." And with that said, Lucca and Kyle went off ahead, leaving Crono and Marle by themselves. "Shall we get going then?" Crono asked his orangey haired friend.

"Yes, let's."

* * *

Not too long afterwards, Kyle and Lucca arrived close to the two brothers' house. "I'll see you later, Lady Lucca," Kyle said with a goofy grin.

"You don't need to call me that, you big doofus," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"Very well, your majesty. I shall now take my leave." The 17 year old boy suddenly grabbed his female friend's hand, kissing it smoothly, leaving her stunned for a second, and then ran off before she could retaliate in any manner.

"I swear, he'll never change," she said to herself turning around to go home, though not without a smile on her face.

* * *

"Hey mom, I'm home!" Kyle called out as he walked in, not seeing his mother around the kitchen. He then proceeded to go upstairs to his room, then Crono's, finding her sitting on a chair at the window. "Hi mom."

"Kyle dear, you're back," she said, standing up to hug her younger son. "How are you?"

"I'm pretty good thanks. You should hear about this crazy adventure I've been on. But first, if you don't mind, I'm hungry."

* * *

Crono and Marle had now been walking towards the castle for some time, by now just getting close to the forest that surrounded the imposing structure. "Well… that is one impressive building," Crono commented.

"Yeah, I guess it is," Marle said. "So, about Kyle, when he said there was something he wanted to ask your mother, he sounded kind of… sad, maybe."

"My guess is that he means to ask about our father," Crono answered. "I was less than a year old and Kyle wasn't even born when he passed away. He always wanted to know about him, but our mother never really said much. Dunno, maybe she'll open up and tell his story this time around."

"I hope she does. He must have been a good man, considering how you both turned out to be." Marle remained silent for a while, until speaking up again. "I hope my father doesn't react too badly when we arrive."

"Do you really expect it to be that bad?"

"Well… the last time I did anything close to this, it wasn't really so bad, but still… Anyway, I'm hoping it'll turn out right this time around. And if it doesn't… then I'll find a way to make him listen."

"That's good. Hey, just curious, but how do you change your hair color like that?"

"I'll have you know that it'd entirely natural," she replied.

"Really? Impossible!" he claimed in a mock astonished voice.

* * *

"And that's just about it," Kyle said as he finished telling their story, omitting the confusing details of time travel and the old kingdom of Guardia, and also not revealing the fact that Marle was Princess Nadia.

"So, if I understand, you and Lucca travelled to some distant kingdom, where you found Crono. Then, with the help of a talking frog, you saved that kingdom's queen, defeated a horrible beast, and found the girl Marle, who you brought back through the portal."

"Uh huh. That about sums it up."

"That's quite an impressive tale."

"So… you believe me?"

"Yes. I myself was actually watching when you and Lucca went off through the portal the first time, and I had a lengthy chat with Taban about the machine you'd been working on. So, with what I've seen and heard, your story fits in just about right."

"That's cool." Kyle then cleared his throat, preparing himself for what he'd meant to ask for some time. "Umm, mom? There's something I wanted to ask…. It's about dad. Please, I want to know who he was, what he was like."

Kyle's mother sighed at this. "I suppose you are old enough and you deserve to know what kind of man your father was. Alright... you remember the stories about the thief Percy Reed? Or 'The Hood', as he was known."

"Yeah, I remember. He was a gallant thief, who went around stealing money from the rich, hunting and chopping wood on nobles' lands and always giving to the poor and less fortunate. What about him?"

"He is Crono's father and yours too."

"You mean… Percy Reed, The Hood, was our father?"

"Yes. And like the stories, he was a gallant thief who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. We met when I was 22 years old, he hadn't reached thirty yet. He was… roguish and sly, as one might expect, but still quite charming. We fell in love almost on sight and remained so all along. He was a very good man and always showed respect. He helped repair this house and paid off my any money my grandfather owed. Grandfather always did like him, but he only lived long enough to see to it that we'd be married and leave the house to us."

"So, what happened?"

"Well, after some time, we had our first child, Crono. We truly were happy then. However... the king's cousin, a particularly wealthy and avaricious noble, liked by few people, hated your father with a passion. He despised his selfless ways so much, that he set a trap for him. Percy was caught, and… accused of murdering the noble's half-brother." A single teardrop fell onto her cheek, though she still continued. "He was put on trial, and because of the nobleman's influence, he was found guilty and…. executed. As you know, Crono was only six months old, and you were six months away from being born." Kyle's mother gently placed a hand to her son's cheek, looking at him with a tender expression. "You truly are your father's son… it's not fair that you never knew him, he really would have been proud of the way you turned out both."

"It's okay, mom," Kyle said, embracing her in a warm grip. "At least now I know he was a good man."

"Kyle," his mother spoke up again after a moment of silence. "Why didn't Crono come back here after you all returned?"

"Oh, that's because he's escorting Marle, the girl whom he has an interest in but doesn't realize it yet, back to her house. It's not too far from the castle, actually."

"I see… And speaking of the castle, did you know that Princess Nadia was kidnapped?"

Kyle blinked a few times, as his brain processed this information. "Say whaaaaat?"

"Princess Nadia. Apparently she's gone missing for some time now, and everyone is abuzz with news of her having being kidnapped."

"The princess… kidnapped? Oh boy." Kyle's face sunk as he put two and two together. "I... need to go Lucca's house for something."

"Okay then. Have fun," she managed to say, just as he was bolting out the door.

* * *

"Well, here we are," Crono said as they arrived before the castle gates', wide open for them to walk through.

"Yeah, we're here alright," Marle mumbled. "Are you coming in with me?"

"If you wish. And in anyway, it would be ungallant of me to leave unless I had fulfilled my duty of escorting you until you until the end."

Marle giggled a little at this. "How gentlemanly. Let us now enter." The duo then proceeded to walk forward, until they came into the castle itself, standing within the lobby, which was practically unchanged from the other version of 400 years ago.

"Princess Nadia!" an unknown voice called out. As it happened, it belonged to a short man standing at the top of the stairs, who was dressed in emerald clothes and looked rather similar to the chancellor Crono and his friends had rescued from the cathedral. "Princess Nadia, are you all right? Where have you been? Everyone heard you were abduct-" The man interrupted himself when he noticed Crono, his eyes narrowing in contempt. "So… you're the scoundrel responsible for this, huh? Kidnapping the Princess, how despicable!"

"WHAT! I didn't…"

"Crono did not-"

"GUARDS!" the chancellor shouted. "Seize this man, now!"

A horde of castle guards suddenly came rushing into the lobby, swarming the red headed boy, who was given no chance to explain anything when a fist came streaking for his cheek. Leaving his sword in its sheath, Crono dodged the blow then punched his attacker as hard as he could in the stomach, dropping him to the floor. Just after this, another came from behind, attempting to grab him, only to receive an elbow in the face. However, despite downing a few guards to start, their numbers did not dwindle enough, and they began to pound on him like a pack of merciless wolves.

A kick caught him in the chest, squeezing the breath out of him, though he still managed to head-butt the guard in the stomach. Another one punched him hard in the shoulder, and was treated to a fist bloodying his nose in return. One of them connected with a knee to his back, then another with a fist to his cheek, then yet another hit him in the side. Crono began to flail about almost wildly, hitting heads, stomachs, backs, arms, whatever he could reach, yet being overcome all the same. Just as he fell to his hands and knees, a shrill voice interrupted. "STOP THIS AT ONCE!" Marle shouted as loud as she could. Upon hearing this, all the guards who were able, dropped to a knee, though many of them at least with bruises.

"FOOLS!" The chancellor cried out frantically. "What are you doing?"

"But sir…" one of the guardsmen spoke up. "Princess Nadia just told us to-"

"Idiots! Detain him!"

"Do not move!" Marle countered.

"Nadia!" All heads turned towards the new voice. The one who came in was decked in obviously expensive clothes, a reddish robe trailing behind him. He was adorned in much jewelry, held a gold scepter in one hand, and had a majestic crown sitting stop his head. "Enough of this nonsense!"

"Father, please! The Chancellor ordered the guards to attack my friend! I swear, he is innocent!"

"We have reason to believe that this young rascal kidnapped you," the Chancellor said.

"That's crazy! He did no such thing!"

"Then tell us, where have you been this past week?"

"I… I…"

"It is as I thought your majesty. This young man is her kidnapper."

"Guards," the king spoke. "Take him away." And as the guards grabbed him again, the last thing that Crono saw, was Marle's worried face, before losing consciousness.

* * *

SO, I hope you all thought it worth reading, and PLEASE review.

I'll probably get around to updating next month.

Later!


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